ed,edd, n eddy dark contract
by johntheanimefan
Summary: the eds have their peaceful life uprooted in a matter of days, and are forced to seek help with dark forces. The further they stray from the light, the more the truth is revealed. Book 1 in the Dark Contract saga
1. wandering eds

ladies and gentlemen (and undecided), welcome to my new story based on one of my all time favorite shows, ed, ed, n eddy! Warning, like nicktoons, there will be no yaoi in this tale unless one of the oc's I make is gay. Yeah, little warning, if you hate oc's in all forms, no matter how well written, AVOID THIS STORY! Seriously, I cannot warn you enough XD

but if that doesn't bother you, then let's get started!

eddy's brother sat silently in a dark room, facing a desk where, behind it, sat a man shrouded in shadows. Between the two was a single scrap of paper with a dotted line at the bottom, facing eddy's brother. After a bit of silence, the shady one spoke "well" he said in a voice as smooth as a cold knife against a warm throat "are you going to sign? You asked for this for so long and you choose now to hesitate?" eddy's brother looked up at the man in front of him intensely

"so let me just get things straight right quick" he started "I just need to bring you three new bloods, and then I'm free?" the shrouded man gave a long cheshire cat grin

"now my dear delta" he addressed eddy's brother "I am many things, but I am no liar. Normally the price is simply one new recruit, but you are a bit more...shall we say, valuable. As such, I require compensation, you understand, correct?" eddy's brother, apparently named "delta" by this man at least, nodded in response

"I understand, and when I do, I never want to hear from you again" delta responded. The mysterious man simply nodded

"as you wish. Now then, get to work, after all, you only have three months" and with that, delta stood and walked out of the room. Sitting back in his chair, the man rang a bell and, seemingly out of nowhere, a butler dressed in a black pinstripe suit poured him a cup of tea "thank you ritter" he thanked the butler, who simply smiled

"of course, master seraphim" ritter responded in a polite tone "master seraphim, do yuo think that these new recruits will be..." he trailed off, not really having much stock in his words, therefore seeing no reason to finish the sentence. But seraphim seemed to know exactly what he was talking about

"let's hope so" he replied forebodingly "we're beginning to run out of time"

two months and 28 days later...

our heroes, the eds, sat together on the S.S mutant almost a chicken duck, drifting aimlessly through the river. Okay, not aimlessly, considering they're on a river, so they'll eventually end up SOMEWHERE, but they didn't seem all that concerned with where exactly. The three sat in silence for a good while, not having it in them to talk to one another. Honestly, after what's happened the past few days, who would be in the mood to talk? But eventually, boredom got the best of eddy and he decided to speak up

"okay" he started "I'm hungry and I'm bored out of my skull, and I know for a fact that the two of you are as well. Double d, what's the next town we're stopping at?" double d looked up from playing with splinters of wood chipping off of the floor to answer eddy's question

"hmm, let's see" double d reached into his pack and pulled out a map "well, at this rate, we should actually be arriving at new orleans shortly. So unless anyone wants to head out to sea, this'll be our stop, because we officially have nowhere else to go" eddy gulped in response but ed...just stayed asleep

"so this is it, huh?" eddy asked morbidly. They had been chased across the country, and now there was nowhere to run anymore

"afraid so" double d replied " we barely escaped kevin and the others yesterday, and I'm sure they're not far behind today. Face it, eddy, we're screwed unless we come across some kind of miracle" eddy ran a hand through his jet black hair

"I know, I'll think of something"

hours later...

the anatomically confused boat finally made its stop in the harbor of new orleans, allowing the eds to step off and stretch their legs. Eddy, however, noticed that the lummox known as ed was still fast asleep. Eddy fixed this by slapping the back of ed's head

"huh?" ed asked after his dream was so rudely interrupted. Looking up, he saw eddy standing over him, tapping his foot in impatience "oh, hello eddy, are we there yet?"

"yeah, now get up" eddy demanded, helping ed up by grabbing both of his arms. Turning around, our unlikely heroes saw the lights of the city ahead. Double d snapped his fingers in remembrance

"oh yeah" he proclaimed "today's mardi gras!" eddy raised an eyebrow

"you say that as if it were a good thing. How is it a good thing?" double d turned to the other two

"because if kevin is right behind us, he'll never find us in this crowd! He won't even know where to start!" double d proclaimed in joy "cmon, fellows, let's get into the thick of it!" eddy and ed cheered with a unanimous "yeah!" following after him. Soon the three were wrapped up in the drunken madness that is mardi gras, nobody even noticing that there were three underage partiers that had now joined them. But the eds weren't the only strange additions to the party.

meanwhile...

delta sat at a table in a local bar, enjoying a drink along with some peace and quiet from the partying. Then ritter stepped out from the shadows behind delta "two days left delta" delta's face fell almost instantly after that sentence

"I know, I know. For some reason, no fish are biting. So many people in the world willing to sell their souls away, where did they all go?"

"who knows" ritter replied with a shrug, picking up a drink of his own " sometimes, life decides to just throw the world a freebie. But dont worry, alot can happen in two days. But only if you get off your sorry ass" delta got the message and stood up, downing the last of his drink. Turning around ritter draped his arm around delta's shoulder and motioned him to look out the window

" dont look now, but I think I see three perfect candidates right out there" delta looked and saw something he couldn't believe

his little brother and his two friends. Slowly, a cheshire cat grin spread across his face

"jackpot" he uttered lowly


	2. Delta's proposal

Sorry about the wait, but it's called college, maybe you've heard of it. Anyway, I tried making it a bit longer to compensate. Enjoy

once again, I own nothing. If I did, you wouldn't be seeing this on a friggin fanfiction site, would you?

The eds were currently partaking in a conga line with other, more inebriated partiers. Most likely having completely forgotten their reason for drowning themselves in the festivities, our unlikely heroes were simply attempting to enjoy themselves. Shifting through the crowd (and picking up a few wallets along the way), Delta made his way slowly over to his little brother. A simple tap on the shoulder got eddy to turn around, seeing his bro towering above him "bro!" he proclaimed joyously, wrapping his arms around his torso. He then called out for double d and ed "hey guys, I found my bro!" aforementioned two looked over to eddy, running over to him

"that's wonderful eddy!" double d congratulated, while ed hugged his two compatriots

"safe at last!" ed proclaimed, like he usually does. Delta chuckled at their antics, but decided to get to the questions at hand

"what are you three doing in new orleans, and where the hell are mom and dad?" he asked

"mom and dad are back home, probably screaming their heads off" eddy joked "as for why we're here...that's a bit of a long story" delta smirked

"well, it doesn't matter I guess. Come on, I'll take you to my hotel" and with that, delta turned and walked off, with the eds close behind

later...

Delta opened the door to his hotel, and let the eds inside. The hotel room was SWANKY, no, scratch that, it hunts down every dictionary on earth, erases the definition of the word "swanky" and just gorilla glues a picture of that room on the spot where the definition used to be. Not only was it a penthouse suite, but it had a beautiful view of the city, and a 70 inch plasma screen T.V with the latest game systems sitting at the foot! Needless to say, the eds were all over this, eddy and ed going over to the game console and popping in...whatever game is actually good for the new consoles (NOTE: as of when I've written this, the PS4 and Xbone have only been out for a year or so, and this is during the time when the amount of good games for the WiiU has only recently began to increase. So if a good game has come out for those systems by the time you read this, I'm sorry) while double d admired the view. Delta sat on the bed, kicking off his boots while watching the teens play.

"man, this is awesome!" eddy announced, before a question popped into his head. Pausing the game to turn back to his bro, he asked "hey, bro, how did you afford all this anyway?" delta just gave a sly smile

"let's just say my benefactor is quite, shall we say, generous. I run a few errands for him, and he keeps me well compensated" delta explained vaguely. Double d eyed him with a air of suspicion, after all, what kind of errand boy gets this much cash? But hey, they're getting a safe haven out of it

so the question is "what's the catch?" double d asks out loud. Delta turned to him with a raised eyebrow

"what do you mean?" he replies

"you've never called eddy, never contacted him, save for the occasional gift from your travels, and according to eddy, the same can be said for your parents. For all intents and purposes, you seem to have cut off all ties to your family, so why are you just taking us in without a second thought? I want to know the catch" The sock head scrutinized the older man with the focus and intensity of a police detective, but delta was not so easily dissuaded

"do I need a reason to help my little brother?" he asked, standing up and towering over Edd "I admit, my relationship with mom and dad is...shaky at best, but I don't take that out on him, I haven't called him because my job is hectic and requires alot of travelling. My phone minutes are spent conversing with the boss, and any clients he has me assigned to. This is literally the only vacation I've had in quite some time, and I was originally planning on contacting eddy personally. But, what providence, here you all are. Does that answer your question?" double d stood his ground for a minute, still suspicious, but saw fit to back down for now. Eddy, wanting to break the tension, made himself heard again

"hey, why so glum sockhead? We're in a penthouse, with my awesome bro, and...do we have room service?" delta picked up the phone

"what'll it be?" delta asked with a wink

after a copious and filling meal, the eds were left lying on their back on the beds, content with themselves. Eddy patted his belly, letting out a burp "I tell ya guys, we are officially living the good life." double d however, was still bugged by something

"but for how long?" he asks "how long until they find us again?" eddy's good mood instantly hit the unfortunate brick wall that is reality, sitting up to look at his friend

"you're being a real negative nancy, ya know that?" eddy chastised, but double d turned to him sternly and locked him with a steely gaze

"I'm serious, eddy" double d shot back "kevin isn't messing around this time, and after what happened, who can blame him? one way or another, he'll find us, and then what?" eddy's head slouched in concern and in thought. But delta walked out of the bathroom, having overheard the conversation

"I could help you with that" he offered. Eddy shot up and rushed over to his bro

"see, guys, my bro's got it all handled." eddy proclaimed, looking up to his brother "so, what's the plan?"

"remember my employers I told you about?" delta asked "well, they specialize in hired jobs. People like me present people like you, with contracts like this..." from delta's fist descended a parchment. It was your typical contract, with a series of paragraphs detailing the deal, and a red dotted line at the bottom. Delta continued "...and when my clients sign the contract, my employers help them with whatever they require. For a fee of course" delta lays the paper on the table, and the three eds look over the paper. Double d lifted the paper to read it more carefully

"We, the undersigned agree, that in exchange for the protection provided to us by the branded organization in possession of this paper, that we shall offer our unquestioning service to aforementioned organization. Services include, errand running, bodyguard duty, and negotiating with clients should the boss be otherwise unavailable due to business." Double d read carefully. before he could read anymore, the overeager eddy snatched the paper from his hands, grabbed a pen and signed his name

"sounds good to me" he agreed recklessly "getting out of here, and all we have to do is get some milk for some old crone, count me in" ed also took a pen and wordlessly wrote his own name. Whether or not he agreed was irrelevant, eddy had already signed, so ed was going to mostly keep him out of trouble. Eddy handed the pen to double d "cmon man" he said "this is a great deal. Just sign it" double d hesitated for a moment or two, before remembering that eddy and ed were going one way or another, so he may as well follow them

"very well" he relented, taking the pen and writing on the dotted line. Delta then rolled up the paper, smiling at them crookedly

"pleasure doing business with you" he said to them before the doorbell to the penthouse rang "oh, that must be him now" delta walked over to the door, opening it to reveal Ritter, who bowed curtly at the eds

"Mr's Ed, Edd, and eddy" he greeted "my name is Ritter, and I will be escorting you to your new estates..."


	3. new home

new chapter out early! A short one compared to last time, but oh well. Luckily, we're getting to the really cool stuff soon, so chapters will be much more frequent from here on out, and hopefully, much longer.

once again, I own nothing

To say the eds were weirded out would be an understatement. Here was this tall, thin, bald man who was paler than moonlight, sporting a polite, yet somehow insincere smile, and was currently offering them a place to stay right after they signed a contract with eddy's brother

Yeah, double d's BS detector was going off the scale, but for some reason he didn't seem to mind. At least he thinks he doesn't mind, why would he and his friends be absentmindedly moving towards the strange man if he didn't mind? The eds stopped in front of ritter, eddy deciding to speak up "estates, what do you mean estates?" he asked

"why, you signed a contract with mr. delta here, so I'm here to keep up our end of the bargain. You shall be escorted to the estate of one Zephyr Seraphim immediately" Ritter explained. The eds were dumbfounded, not only were they about to be rid of their pursuers once and for all, from the sound of it, they were going to be living it up from now on. Eddy and ed were of course ecstatic

"yeah baby!" eddy declared "bout time we got some respect around here! Not only that, we get a mansion, A MANSION!"

"I could cultivate a veritable chicken armada, and finally conquer the earth!" ed proclaimed, earning looks form eddy and double d alike, while ritter leaned over to delta

"I like that one" ritter commented, while delta smirked

"only the best for master seraphim" he replied, turning back to the eds "alright then, it was nice seeing you again pipsqueak, but I'm guessing you want to head off to your new home as fast as possible" eddy jumped and hugged his brother

"you're the absolute coolest bro a guy could have, Matt" eddy proclaimed, but then his face turned to that of confusion. When he looked at delta, or matt as it were, he looked way more shocked than eddy did, as if this were the first time in years he had heard his own name. Matt turned back to Ritter, who simply nodded his head

"you're free to go, Matt" he said simply, Matt putting eddy down

"bro, what does he mean by that?" he asked matt, who quickly shook off his surprise

"n-nothing, eddy, it's nothing. I...gotta go" Matt then ran off down the hall of the hotel, leaving the eds dumbstruck while Ritter just stared on

"safe journey...friend" ritter mumbled to himself with a hint of sadness in his voice. Ritter then turned back to the eds, his mouth back to his pleasant smile "well then, shall we go?" Ritter walked off, with the Eds close behind. Ed noticed eddy's confusion and decided to ask him what was wrong

"something eating you eddy?" he asked

"did you know my brother's name was Matthew?' eddy asked the two of them. Double d put his finger to his chin in thought

"can't say that I did" he replied with a shrug

"me neither" ed added

"strangely enough...neither did I" eddy said confused "but when I signed that contract, it was like the memory of his name just came back to me"

"curious" double d mused to himself in thought as the four exited the hotel. In front of them was now a sleek, luxurious, black limousine with the door open, waiting for them. Ritter waited by the car door and hurried them inside. Now that the eds were in the car, ritter followed inside, sitting opposite them as the door closed. There was a bottle of sparkling white grape juice (if you haven't had sparkling grape juice, GO HAVE SPARKLING GRAPE JUICE, specifically around new years) in an ice bucket between them and three wine glasses. Ritter gestured for them to take a drink, and the eds complied.

"I apologize for Delta's behavior bu-"

"matt" eddy interrupted ritter, who seemed unfazed, but a twitch in his eyebrow suggested otherwise

"quite. Anyway, I apologize for his behavior, I don't know what came over him" ritter lied. They didn't need to know just yet "but in any case, you three are now in service to master Seraphim, in exchange for him giving you shelter in his home, you will do what he says, when he says it, and how he says it should be done, I hope that is clear" Ritter gave them a look in his eye that told them to say yes, otherwise this trip would probably have a much different destination, so the eds quickly nodded in response, causing ritter's smile to return "excellent, and just in time, we're here..." ritter snapped his fingers causing the doors to open, allowing the eds out. When they stepped out, to their shock and disbelief, they suddenly found themselves in a mountainous forest, with not a sign of civilization to be found for seemingly miles around! The eds...took it well

"WHAT THE HELL?!" they all screamed in unison, panicked like nothing else

"sockhead, where the hell are we?" asked eddy panicky

"we seem to be in...in...the black forest" double d responded, doing everything he could to keep himself calm

"and that would be...?' ed asked him

"Baden-Wurttemberg Germany" double d finally answered, making eddy flip out

"how the flying hell are we in friggin GERMANY?!" eddy was about 3 seconds away from losing his tiny mind when Ritter pinched eddy's neck in a way that seemed to instantly calm him down " ya know what...maybe this aint all that bad" eddy sighed in relief as Ritter released him, returning him to normal, but calmed down

"follow mr eddy's example and calm down please" Ritter patiently stated "I assure you all will be explained, but first we must get to the castle" ed and double d looked up

"castle?" asked ed. Ritter then turned, pointing to a massive, imposing, gothic castle that glistened in the sun, appearing to be as black as night. The castle Seemed to be hanging off the side of the mountain, but upon closer inspection one would see that it kinda was, although intentionally, as the side of the castle that hung off curved back into the mountainside, keeping it balanced.

"welcome to your new homes, my friends" Ritter proclaimed "Castle Trotz" (Trotz meaning "defiance" in german) The eds didn't know whether to be amazed or scared out of their wits. But something told them they were about to find out...

meanwhile...

From atop the towers of the castle sat a silhouetted figure wielding binoculars, the only thing truly visible were the figure's gorgeously glowing blue eyes. The figure looked through the scopes to see the eds arriving to the gates of Castle Trotz

"so they've arrived" spoke the figure in an undeniably female voice "this ought to be fun..."


	4. Zephyr Seraphim

hey everybody, we're back! Oh, and BTW, I think I should mention this now, the eds in this story are about 16-18, so as to not put 12 year olds through...whatever I plan on putting them through (no spoilers for you). Also, I apologize to any germans reading this for the fact that I couldn't spell Wurttemberg correctly, since I'm using an american computer and keyboard, I can't spell any words in other languages correctly because I lack the proper key.

as usual, I own nothing, let's get on with the story

The eds and Ritter approached the doors to the castle, the eds being justifiably nervous. However, that mattered not to Ritter, who knocked on the castle doors. The massive Mahogany doors (because it's just not a castle if the doors aren't big enough for Bruce Campbell's chin) opened, revealing another pale butler behind them, who stepped out of the way to let them in "welcome home, Ritter" he greeted as Ritter and the eds walked past "I assume these are Delta's replacements?" Ritter nodded "good" the butler replied "master Seraphim wishes to speak with them immediately" the eds looked at each other in confusion

"oh don't look so confused" Ritter said to the three "The master wishes to greet his new wards personally, as well as lay down some...necessary ground rules. Now follow me..." The eds followed tentatively after the butler through the gothic halls of the castle. The interior in all honesty, was gorgeous, if a bit frightening. Stained glass windows depicting mythical beasts battling filtered the sunlight into a myriad of colors that danced along the onyx black floors, upon which ran a fabulous blood red silk carpet for them to walk on. Stone busts of other various creatures lined the other side of the hallway, while above their heads hung beautiful chandeliers of gold and silver. While at first they were afraid of this castle and laid inside, something about the inside seemed to...calm the eds. As if they had just walked through the doors of their own homes, that same feeling of security and sanctuary. However, the walk finally ended at a pair of normal wood doors with the words 'master's office' engraved in several languages at the top, indicating that this was the workplace of the elusive master "well, here we are" Ritter announced, opening the doors. Master Seraphim's office was dark, one could barely see 3 inches in front of him, that was, until Ritter announced his presence "master, I have arrived with our new recruits" he proclaimed. The darkness in the room just seemed to disappear as candles around the room took light. To the left was an average stone fireplace, upon the mantelpiece however, hung the skull of a creature of indescribable nature. The skull seemed to have 3 different holes for eyes along each side of its face, its snout brandished two incredibly long tusks, at the end of both sprouted two additional smaller tusks for both of the big ones, and teeth that looked like they could bite through solid steel protruded haphazardly from the upper and lower jaw. Double d prayed that the skull was merely a masterfully constructed hoax. Then, sitting behind a mahogany desk, sitting in a leather office chair, was none other than the master himself, Zephyr Seraphim. Zephyr was a tall man, probably late 30's-early 40's, wearing a black pinstripe suit with a red tie, jet black hair with hints of gray around the ends, with a goatee to match, and sporting a pair of blood red eyes that seemed to deeply analyze our three heroes the minute they came into the room. Zephyr smirked somewhat emotionlessly at his servant's call

"bring them in, Ritter" he commanded in a voice as slick as oil "I wish to meet them" the eds, ever hesitantly approached the master of the house, while Ritter took his place at the master's side. Zephyr gestured for them to sit down in three chairs set up from them, his face turning into a polite smile "sit down boys, and let's get to know each other" he offered. The eds sat in the chairs and, after realizing how comfortable these chairs were, finally loosened up "now then, what did you say your names were?" Zephyr asked, resting his chin on the back of his fist

"m-my name is Eddward, sir, but most call me d-double d." double d answered, giving the other two courage to speak up as well

"my name is ed" ed proclaimed

"I'm eddy" eddy announced finally. Zephyr nodded at their names

"I see" he mused "well, what a coincidence, three new recruits with the exact same name, more or less." Zephyr then shot up, realizing how uncomfortable the three were "my apologies, would you three like anything? Perhaps refreshments?" a calm smile replacing his former expression. eddy and double d were still rather nervous, but ed shot up at the mention of food

"I want butter toast!" he announced as if butter toast was the food of kings! Zephyr chuckled at this and turned to Ritter

"Splendid, Ritter, if you would be so kind?" Ritter nodded in response to Zephyr's command and clapped his hands together twice, as if activating a clap on switch. Then, from the door came another butler carrying a tray consisting of three plates of butter toast for all three of them. The eds, thoroughly famished, decided to dig in "wonderful" Zephyr said happily "and would you like any drinks with that?" the eds nodded due to their full mouths, causing Ritter to snap his fingers, and another butler walks in with three cans of orange soda, which the eds took gratefully, gulping down the sweet nectar. After they were finished, Zephyr felt it was time to get down to business "now then, down to business. You three have requested my sanctuary, and I am inclined to provide it. In exchange for that, however, I require certain tasks to be performed on my behalf" eddy waved it off

"yeah, yeah, we get ya boss. A few deliveries here, a mopped floor there..." eddy trailed off, believing that Zephyr understood his compliance. Zephyr, however, was far from amused

"I'm afraid it goes a bit...shall we say, deeper than that, my boy. While, true, castle maintenance and package deliveries are part of it, the tasks that you will be trained for are a tad bit more daunting." the eds were very confused. They were three 18 year old kids, what else could this man want from them? Zephyr continued "Let me make something clear, as I believe there has been some miscommunication somewhere along the line. You three, are my property now. For you, I had to give up Delta, one of my finest recruits for several years, so I expect to receive my money's worth. As such, you will be trained and honed to perform the various kinds of jobs that were expected from him. Assassinations, racketeering, drug smuggling, that sort of thing" the eds eyes widened in synch as their master went down the list. Double d was especially sweating, with the knowledge that he had just signed onto a CRIME SYNDICATE! Eddy attempted to regain his composure, putting on his most confrontational face as he stood and slammed his hands on Zephyr's desk.

"Who the hell do you think you are, goat face?" he asked furiously, mocking Zephyr's facial follicles. Zephyr, however, remained stoic

"sit down and shut up, boy!" he ordered, his slick business voice morphing into a commanding bark expected from an army general. Almost against his will, eddy sat back down in his chair, his mouth refusing to open. Zephyr calmed himself surprisingly quickly, returning to his explanation "I was getting to that part. I run an organization known simply as 'the contractors'. We are mercenaries, assassins for hire, and businessmen, as you've no doubt seen. You've become acquainted with our namesake, the contract..." Zephyr extended his open hand, and, from his palm, arose the contract the eds signed, coated in a green fiery aura "...this legally binding contract states that all three of you are now under my protection. However, that also means that you belong to me, bodies and souls. You quite literally go where I say you go, and do what I say you do. For instance, Eddy, you may speak" Eddy, who was pulling at his lips to get them to open, suddenly regained the ability to open his mouth again "now then, slap ed" at Zephyr's command, eddy backhanded ed across the face

"what the-I-I'm sorry, ed" he stammered as ed rubbed his face. Zephyr chuckled, loving this part of the job

"I think revenge is in order" he suggested "ed, punch eddy in the gut" the lump then swung his fist into eddy's gut, sending him flying out of his chair and slamming into the mantle above the fireplace with a hard THUD, surprising everyone in the room, including ed "well...that was unexpected" Zephyr admitted, seeing eddy attempt to bring himself to his feet "oh, get up, you're fine" at first sounding callous, Zephyr proves to be right as eddy staggered to his feet, dazed but otherwise unhurt.

"what...the?" eddy mumbled

"after signing the contract to become a contractor yourself, you are given a...strange, but useful side effect. All three of your bodies are now 50% more durable than before. Ed could have thrown you threw a wall, and you would only have 2 or 3 broken bones. Now, back to your seat" eddy stiffened like a board and walked over to his chair with the fluidity of a wind up toy robot before sitting back down "I promise to not use this control power, if you three do what I say of your own free will. Now, I don't need a yes from you, you will work foe me, you gave your consent for me to do whatever I wanted with you when you signed the contract" at that line, everyone but Zephyr internally shivered, their minds subconsciously going to...unpleasant places. Zephyr just rolled his eyes "oh please, I'm many things, but whatever you're thinking of I am far from. Now, since all that is officially out of the way, you may go to your rooms. You already know where they are. Dismissed..." The eds stood up and mindlessly walked out of the office and into the hallway. The minute the doors closed, the eds were free to fall to their knees, overwhelmed by what just happened.

"guys" eddy started "am...am I dreaming?" Double d was close to bursting into tears

"oh, h-how I wish you were" he replied, holding back sobs with all his might. Ed stood and started walking

"need bed...must sleep" ed murmured, thoroughly tired from today's events. The other two eds stood and followed him, double d wiping his eyes and swallowing his sobs before calming down finally. As Zephyr said, they somehow knew exactly where their rooms were. Good thing too, because their rooms were halfway across the castle, so who knows how long it would've taken otherwise. Their rooms were actually quite nice, although the walls were rather barren, there was a window across the room that had a lovely view of the forest, there were three queen sized beds for each of them, and there was a good sized television sitting atop an entertainment center. The eds stared in awe at their new lifestyle for a moment before realizing the horrible truth

They were finally living in luxury, but at the cost of their choice in the matter.

However, they were snapped out of their sobering thoughts by Ritter appearing behind them "the rooms are always left rather plain. Since you shall be with us for quite some time, you may customize and add to this room as much as you please." he explained, walking away "your training begins tomorrow at 9:00 sharp. You can either show up there, cleaned dressed and ready to go, or you can be there because master Seraphim ordered you there, scraggly, drowsy and under clothed. Either way, you will be there, understood?" the eds shot a fearful salute, at which Ritter nodded and continued on his way. The eds walked into their room, chose their beds, laid down and instantly went to sleep...

the next morning...

The eds sat in a row of desks, in what appeared to be your run of the mill classroom. Surrounding them were about 10-12 different people. Some were old, some were their age, some were actually younger! While Double d was dressed, cleaned and ready to learn (their current situation provided no excuse for lack of etiquette in the classroom) Eddy was only half awake and just dressed well enough to be let in, while Ed was already asleep and only had his jeans on, left in his stained white undershirt. The door then opened, signifying that class was in session, and that the teacher had arrived. Eddy (along with many of the students) instantly woke up when the teacher came in. She was about 18-19, dressed in the usual attire of well pressed black suit, but now with a bright blue tie, had dazzling, long red hair, and a shapely, yet stocky figure, showing that this was a woman who had seen her share of fights. But the most eye catching part of her, was her beautiful, _glowing cobalt blue eyes_. The woman walked over to the desk, laying a dossier on the table top, and looking up to greet the class with a smile that would look right at home on Hannibal Lector's face "good morning class" she greeted "my name is Cobalt, and I'll be your firearms teacher today"


	5. Contractor school part 1

I'm alive! Alive I tell you, alive! Welcome back to dark contract, sorry for the wait, college has been murder on me lately!

As usual, I do not own ed, edd, n eddy, now no more chit chat, let's get started!

_ I guess every cloud does have a silver lining _Eddy thought, admiring their new teacher, along with half of the classroom, while double d just rolled his eyes and ed continued sleeping. Cobalt, on the other hand, kept her smirk at the whole thing. Hell, it might have actually grown a bit when she saw half the class drooling over her...

...makes _breaking them_ far more enjoyable

"I'm glad to see the lot of you up and ready to go. Well, most of you anyway" she said looking down at ed. Double d scrambled to wake his friend

"u-uh, my apologies, m-mi-miss Cobalt ma'am. He uh, well he...please excuse his behavior" the schools back home were hard enough on poor ed, but these guys probably didn't give two damns whether they lived or died, so who knows what they might do? However, Cobalt just sighed

"no, it's fine. There's always one who falls asleep" she replied, waving off Edd's babbling apology before leaning down at Ed's face "Yo, goldilocks, time to wake up. Class is in session" cobalt shook the lump, snapping her fingers in his face, which eventually roused him awake. Ed snorted and gasped as he awoke, looking around the room

"wha...class time already?" he asked nobody in particular

"as a matter of fact, yes it is" cobalt answered, heading back to her desk. As she passed eddy's desk though, our favorite scoundrel decided to try his hand at conversation

"hey there" he greeted, giving a small wave, sporting his usual crooked smirk. Cobalt just took one look at him and chuckled

"oho, my, you're gonna be fun" cobalt snickered, continuing back to her desk. Eddy feigned hurt at her reply

"ooh, shot down" he joked, before the guy behind him jokingly slapped him on the back

"ah, don't be silly kid. You never even got off the ground" he mocked, sporting a thick southern accent. Eddy stuck out his tongue at the chuckling texan. Cobalt reached her desk, stood behind it, and began speaking to the class.

"now that we're all nice and awake, we can get down to business. As I said earlier, I will be your firearms instructor until you are promoted to field duty. Until that promotion, however, you are contractors only in name. Any questions?" nearly everyone in the room raised their hands "any questions that don't involve asking me out?" five of the twelve people put their hands down "good...um, you" cobalt picked out the texan from before

"no offense meant, ma'am, but you seem pretty young. How are you more skilled than the people in this room, when half of us are twice your age?" cobalt gave a courteous smile in response

"good question Mr. Royce" she replied, stating the man's first name even though he had never given it himself "the answer is that I have been a part of this organization ever since I learned to read. While many of you may have come from various combative backgrounds, I have learned everything each of you has learned, and more." a dark aura seemed to radiate off of cobalt as a long smile grew across her face "Do not underestimate me because of my age. Since the moment I have stepped into this room I have devised 10 different ways to kill each of you individually with only the items I have on me right now. So I believe the best thing you lot can do is jump when I say jump" most of the people in the classroom (the eds included) gulped at her words. Like flipping a switch, though, cobalt returned to normal "now then, if you all will follow me, we will continue this class in the firing range" cobalt picked up her folder and walked out of the room, the students following close behind.

later...

Cobalt opened the doors to the firing range, moving to the side to let everyone else inside. The firing range, once again, didn't look like anything special, seeming to favor functionality over aesthetics, although the room was still onyx black, and had the occasional decoratively carved pillar along the wall. As one would expect from a firing range, there was a desk on the right hand side from the doorway that stretched from one side of the room to another, separating the doorway from the rest of the 20 foot long room. On the wall by the left hand side of the door hung a variety of firearms, including shotguns, rifles, pistols, and SMG's. Cobalt walked to the wall of guns and turned to face her students "if your best friend is in this room, look to him/her now" the eds were the only ones this rule applied to, and thus looked at each other "good, from this day forth, you're officially breaking up. I'm sorry to say this, it's not you, it's me, yadda yadda yadda-" cobalt reaches behind her and grabs a shotgun and holds it out to her audience "this is your new best friend. Why is he your new best friend you ask?" Cobalt pumps the shotgun and holds it out in one hand, pointing at a target. Upon firing, the buckshots ripped through the target, reducing it to a bunch of hanging strings of paper. Cobalt rested the shotgun on her shoulder, flashy a toothy grin "any more questions?" she dared, to which the students shook their heads diligently "good, then let's begin"

later...

The eds practically had to drag themselves through the halls after the beating they received during Cobalt's class. The teen thought it would be fun if she took a cattle prod to anyone who missed a shot, amping up the voltage with every shot missed. Needless to say, the eds never wanted to sit down again. The point of the exercise was to learn which type of gun fit with what student: Eddy was best with pistols, Ed was good with shotguns, and Double D was best with rifles and machine guns. At least, they think that's what happened, but honestly, the pain they were experiencing right now was drowning out all other thoughts. That was when Ritter came up behind them again, seemingly from nowhere.

"I trust your class went well?" he asked coyly. The eds were in no mood for Ritter's weirdness, so they grumbled and kept walking. Ritter pursed his lips in concern "you know, your next class is actually that way" Ritter pointed down the hall to their right, while they were going down the hall on the left. The eds looked back at him, horrified of the fact that they have multiple classes. But, remembering that they have no choice in the matter, the eds dragged themselves down the correct hall, causing Ritter to smile contently.

The hallway to their next class brought the Eds out into a courtyard. This particular clearing in the castle had various combat equipment scattered throughout: including training dummies, weapon racks, and crudely built training arenas (crudely built because that makes them easier to rebuild). Our heroes joined their fellow students in a line. A pair of doors on the far side of the courtyard swung open violently, and out stepped a stocky, broad shouldered man of Samoan descent, who even from that distance the Eds could tell, stood twice as large as Ed, and three times as tall as Eddy. The large man marched past the students with the locked discipline of a drill sergeant. He turned on his heels to face our hapless student and looked down, scrutinizing all of them "Good afternoon" he greeted in a calm, baritone, disciplined voice "I am your hand-to-hand combat teacher. My real name is unimportant, so you may call me...Hungryface"


	6. contractor school part 2

And here we are again! Sorry if this also took a little while, I really am trying to update this story, and don't want any of you to think I don't care. But a little heads up, I may be heading back to update the first few chapters, or at least the first one. Because I went back and they are UNREADABLE to me XD. Seriously, I cringe at every sentence. So, that may be happening. Also, by the time this is up, my new story "what lies beyond the mirror" is probably already up and I'm probably in the middle of the next chapter. I'm really excited for this one too, but I'm not anywhere close to being done with dark contract. So let's begin!

As usual, I own nothing.

The eds didn't know what to expect anymore, but they certainly didn't expect a name like f*&amp;king hungryface. "H-Hungryface?" Asked Eddy.

"Hungryface," Said the very same.

"Can…can I ask why?" Eddy asked again.

"Someday, not today." Hungryface looked over the students in front of him with scrutiny. "I am safe in assuming you've already become acquainted with Ms. Cobalt?" The students groaned, causing hungryface to smirk. "Well, you'll be happy to know that I will not be as unforgiving." The students started to perk up, but Hungryface quickly popped that little bubble. "I'm going to be just as bad, but in a different way." More groans from the students. "I am here to teach you the other part of being a contractor: hand-to-hand combat. At some point, your gun will run out of ammo when you really don't want it to. As such, you will each be given a hand held weapon to keep you alive a little longer. Like with the firearms training, what weapon you will receive will vary between each of you. So, let's not waste any time. Everyone, get into line." The students obeyed, organizing into a single file line, with Ed up front, double d behind him, and Eddy in third.

_Weird that we're always the first ones up _Eddy observed in his head, Hungryface removed his coat, undid his tie, and unfastened the top three buttons of his suit.

"For our first exercise, I want you to tackle me as hard as you can. Charge into me and push. I'll decide your weapon depending on how much I feel your weight." All the students gulped, causing Hungryface to let out a hearty chuckle. "Now, don't be shy. Large one, you're up first!" Hungryface pointed to Ed, who stepped forth to meet him. Sweat ran down Ed's face as he looked at his instructor, who stood head and shoulders above him. Hungryface puffed out his chest and beat it with his fist like a drum. "Whenever you're ready." Ed huffed, kicked up the dirt like a bull ready to charge, before launching himself at his instructor. Ed impacted Hungryface, who didn't even move an inch. It was like running into a wall made of steel. Hungryface let out a hearty guffaw. "HAHAHA! Not bad kiddo, not bad. I almost felt that one, HAHAHA! Alright, next!" Ed moved over to a bench on the side, rubbing his sore shoulder. Double d stepped hesitantly forward. Hungryface stood twice as tall as the lanky teen, appearing more like a mountain than a man. "Have at it, m'boy." Double d took a deep breath, shrieked a battle cry, and threw himself at the giant…and then ricocheted harmlessly as if he were a bouncy ball hitting a wall. Double d hit the ground with a THUD! Hungryface pursed his lips, disappointed at the anti-climax. "Well…you suck. Next!" Double d slumped his shoulders and walked over to the bench where Ed was. Finally, it was Eddy's turn on the chopping block. Hungryface stood the tallest over Eddy, the shortie barely coming up to his waist.

_Well, here goes nothing…._ Eddy ran towards him, his arms outstretched, and slammed into Hungryface's torso. He didn't bounce off as easily as Double d, but he didn't last as long as Ed. As usual, Hungryface didn't even budge. "Well, you three were certainly…interesting to say the least. Next!" Eddy walked over to the bench and sat down.

And that's pretty much how it went for 9 more people, some couldn't even budge Hungryface, while others actually managed to push him back an inch or two. When it was all said and done, all the students had to show were bruised shoulders and egos. Hungryface looked around to the battered bodies around him and nodded in satisfaction. "Alright, I think I know what to do now." Hungryface walked over to a small shack off to the side from the arena. Opening it, he pulled out a sack filled with weapons. Hungryface then dropped the sack in front of the beleaguered students. "Line up, come get your weapons." The students dragged themselves to their feet and lined up in front of Hungryface. The eds now found themselves in the back of the line. Eddy, now at the front of his two compatriots, tenderly rubbed his sore shoulder.

"Jesus on a unicycle, these guys are brutal," Eddy cursed.

"I don't think we're going to survive this, fellows," Double d added.

"My arms feel like butterflies," Ed chimed in. Finally, the eds were brought before the large Samoan, who beamed down at them oddly friendly way.

"Sorry if I made you boys sore," He told them. "But this is a dangerous business. And trust me, after your first real mission, you'll be begging for a day this easy."

"Was that supposed to make us feel better?" Asked eddy.

Hungryface pursed his lips before smacking himself in the head. "D'oh, sorry boys, I'm always told I'm not very good at the whole sympathy thing. In any case, here you go short stuff." Hungryface reached into the bag and handed Eddy two combat knives. "Reinforced steel, these things. They'd have to be hit by a 50mm bullet to break. I also heard from Cobalt that you're best with pistols, so this works out well, since these bad boys can be attached as bayonets." Eddy turned the knives over in his hands. He whistled in admiration, slipping them into their holsters. Eddy stepped out of the way, and Double d was next. Hungryface handed him a nightstick. "A good old fashioned beating stick. This one's made of snakewood, one of the hardest woods on the planet." Double d eyed the stick cautiously before holstering it. Last up was Ed. Hungryface reached into the bag and handed Ed a pair of brass knuckles. "You got some strong fists there, boy. These will remove the risk of you busting open your fists with every punch." Ed slipped the knuckles onto his hands, admiring his new accessories. After Ed walked to his two friends, Hungryface gave his hands a mighty clap. "Alright, not gonna lie, you guys actually didn't do so badly. Take a break for lunch, then report to the greenhouse on the east side for the last class for the day." The students dragged themselves out of the courtyard and back into the building.

The cafeteria, like the other room the eds had seen up until this point, was gigantic. Easily the size of the Hogwarts cafeteria (if you don't know what that looks like, there's this wonderful invention called google. Look into it) with the same number of tables. Each table was filled with contractors and students alike. The buffet table conveniently sat next to the door, so the eds took up three trays and slid along. Their eyes practically popped out of their skulls when they saw the food in front of them. The cafeteria buffet was a gourmet spread of turkey, chicken, salad, wine, soda etc. The eds mouths watered as they gathered up as much food as they could carry.

They made their way to a table, sitting down to enjoy their meal. The lunch was silent. The three friends were at a loss on what to say to each other. Or maybe it was just that they were in excruciating pain.

The day wasn't over yet. They knew that. Eddy looked up at Double d, who met his gaze. Ed also looked to his two friends. Their gazes were steeled, beaten, but defiant.

This wasn't going to be easy, but they were going to get through it. Together…


	7. Contractor school part 3

Newest chapter. Here we go

I own nothing, as usual.

The eds all stared up at the pine doors in front of them, a small label above it reading "Greenhouse." On the other side of this door lied more pain. But our heroes were more afraid of what would happen if they didn't attend classes, so they opened the door. Almost instantly, their faces were assaulted by a wave of hot, humid air and a pungent odor befitting a jungle. The greenhouse had single road descending into the room, which was almost completely obscured by greenery.

Our heroes walked along the path until they came across a clearing where the other students could be found. Once they joined them, another door in front of them opened and in stepped Cobalt once more. The students jumped like startled cats, scrambling for a place to hide. Cobalt rolled her eyes before pulling out her pistol and firing into the air, making everyone instantly stop in their tracks, regardless of the positions they were in when they were running.

"Better," said Cobalt. "Now then, welcome to science class. You're all probably wondering why I'm here. Well, the job of a contractor is a job with many hats. While an exert marksman, I'm also an accomplished chemist, so I'm the girl for this job." Cobalt gestured to the plants surrounding the group. "Every plant in this room has the ability to kill each of you one way or another. I'm gonna teach you maggots how to not only NOT kill yourselves with these things, but also how to use them to properly kill everyone else but you." Cobalt snapped her fingers, and from the ground arose three targets. Cobalt reached into her back pocket and pulled out a small box of bullets.

She pulled out a single bullet, holding it between her fingers for the class to see. " This bullet is laced with the poison from the ultra rare Goimba fruit. By ultra rare, I mean we only grow it here. What does it do?" Cobalt loads the bullet into her revolver and shoots at one of the targets. Upon impact, the poison melts the entire target into puddy. Cobalt turned back to the crowd. "You tell me."

The students stared wide-eyed at the melted wood. "Now then," she continued. "I want you each to go into the grove and bring me whatever plants you think are poisonous. When you return, you will brew them all into a liquid and lace them on a single bullet. Your grade will depend on the damage the concoction makes. Don't worry about not making anything deadly; everything in here can be combined into a deadly toxin of some kind. Now then, be off with you." The students scattered into the brush. The eds picked their own spot in the green and began looking.

Eddy grumbled. "That lady is seven different flavors of crazy."

Double d tugged on another plant, ripped it from its roots, and placed it in the basket with the rest. "I wish I could disagree," he said. Ed grabbed the trunk of a tree and shook it, causing three fruits to fall down.

He caught them and presented them to his friends. "Will these do?"

"She said anything, so add it in," Eddy replied. "But anyway, what the hell's up with Seraphim? Cobalt said she's been here since she was a little kid, so why the hell would Seraphim bring in a child?"

"She's his daughter," said Royce, who was working nearby.

Eddy looked over with a raised eyebrow. "Come again?" he asked.

"Cobalt Seraphim, the adopted daughter of Zephyr Seraphim." Royce replied.

"How do you know this?" asked Double d.

"I found it out by asking the others. Some of these guys have been attending this class for a while."

"Oh, I get it now," Eddy said, rolling his eyes.

"Get what?" asked Ed?

"The only reason she's this high in command is becau-" Cobalt came up behind Eddy, poking him on the shoulder, causing him to jump slightly.

"Because what, Mr. Vera?" Cobalt asked him.

"U-uh, n-nothing ma'am," Eddy replied; his hands raised in defense while he sheepishly chuckled.

Cobalt looked down at their bucket of plants and her lips pursed. "I see you've filled your bucket," she said, picking it up. "Come with me, you three." The eds tripped over their words before dropping their heads and following while Royce patted their backs as they passed.

The four returned to the clearing. Cobalt put down the pail and turned to the three, two of which were glaring at Eddy for not keeping his mouth shut. With a quick "Ahem" from Cobalt, all three perked up. Cobalt pulled out a mortar and pestle, grabbed a bit of each of the leaves, berries and fruits, and ground them inside the bowl. Cobalt snapped her fingers again and up popped a table with beakers and boilers strewn across it. She poured the powder into the boiling water and mixed it. After finishing, she poured a small bit of the liquid onto one of her bullets and loaded it into her revolver. She pointed the gun at one of the targets and pulled the trigger. The bullet impacted the target, causing it to spontaneously burst into green and blue flames.

Cobalt whistled in admiration, turning back to our three heroes. "A firebomb potion. A simple concoction, but it'll serve you well if you use it wisely." She handed the bag back to the Eds. "Now then, make it."

"Wait, what?" Eddy asked incredulously.

"Did I stutter? Make it." Eddy looked down at the bag and gulped. His two friends shared the gulp. Cobalt walked over to a bench and sat down, watching them expectantly. Eddy placed the bag on the ground, opening it to reveal the many assortments of fruits and leaves. The three picked out various bits of the mix and laid them on the ground. Double D stroked his chin, trying to remember which ones Cobalt picked out for her mix.

Cobalt tapped her foot with increasing tempo. Finally, she gave a huff. "It doesn't have to be a firebomb, just make something useful," she said.

Double D picked up two leaves and inspected them closely. He growled under his breath. "I…I barely recognize any of these plants!" he said. "I've memorized every botany textbook I've ever read, yet I only know about a third of the plants here. What is the meaning of this?"

"Stop complaining and just do it," Cobalt said with a growl of her own.

"Y-yes ma'am," replied the sockhead, looking back to the plants in a cold sweat. Double d put a hand over his eyes and randomly selected a handful of plants, dumping them into the bowl. Eddy and Ed backed away from Edd as he ground them inside the pestle, as if backing away from a bomb about to go off. Double d moved to the chemistry table and poured the contents into the boiler like before.

"Good, now pour a bit of it onto a single bullet," said Cobalt. Double d gulped, lifting the beaker, pulling out a bullet from his revolver, and slowly tipping the beaker towards it. The liquid inside gently dripped onto the metal, causing it to glow blue. Double d looked over at Cobalt, who simply nodded and gestured with her hand for him to go on. Double d loaded the now blue bullet into his pistol and aimed it at the target. The boy wet his lips before pulling the trigger. The bullet impacted the target, hitting a weaker part of the wood that put up so little resistance that the bullet went right through. All four watched the target, waiting for something to happen.

Cobalt scratched her head. "Hmm, that's weird. The liquid was glowing, so something should've happened," she said. Then, a blue hue came from behind the target. The four looked behind the target and saw the ground where the bullet hit was now glowing. "Oh…that's potentially bad." From the ground shot up a series of plant tendrils that continued up into the sky, breaking open the glass ceiling. The Eds' jaws dropped to the ground, while Cobalt smirked. "That wasn't so bad actually. You made a growth serum." The eds, having readjusted their mouths properly, turned to their teacher in shock.

"Is…is that good?" asked Eddy.

"As a matter of fact, you pass," replied Cobalt. The eds, dumbfounded, went cross eyes and fell to the floor, eliciting a giggle from Cobalt.

Zephyr took a long drag of his oak pipe, blowing a puff of smoke from his lips that gently rose into the air. "So, how have they been doing?" he asked Cobalt, Hungryface, and Ritter, who were sitting in a couch near the fireplace.

"You've given us paper and asked to forge steel," said hungryface.

"Oh come now, you haven't eaten them yet so it can't be that bad," said Ritter, who's chin rested in his palm with a crooked smirk.

"I told you, I don't do that anymore," replied hungryface with a pout.

Zephyr chuckled, looking to Cobalt. "Well, what of you, my dear?"

Cobalt opened a can of soda with a sharp fizz. "A bunch of bores with the barest potential. The short one's pretty cute, though." Zephyr raised and eyebrow at his daughter's last sentence.

Ritter chuckled at his master's silence. "Something wrong, sir?"

Zephyr waved it off. "Bah, it's fine. In any case, I spent some good money on those three, so by god, they'll be the best we can make them. Get their suits tailored, and prep them for the finals." The three minions stood and each gave a curt bow.

"Of course, Master Seraphim." With that, the three left the room, leaving Zephyr to sit back in his chair.

"Kinda cute, eh?" he said, twirling his pen in his hand.

Ooh, I think I hear a romance blossoming. See you guys next time.


	8. Awkward first talk

I HAVE RISEN! Yes, we're back with more dark contract. Hopefully I still have a readership. Anyway, let's get started

As usual, I own nothing.

The eds slept in their beds as the morning sun crept over the horizon and through the window. Though the other two slept soundly, Eddy stirred and shook, as a violent nightmare echoed throughout his mind.

_You ran away…_

_You killed him, and you ran away…_

_Murderer…_

_Monster…_

_You cannot hide forever…_

_They will find you!_

Eddy shot up in a cold sweat, panting with his hand on his rapidly beating heart. He flopped back on the bed after his heart stopped threatening to burst from his chest. But, realizing that he wasn't getting back to sleep, Eddy decided to get up and get some breakfast.

Eddy made his way down the candlelit halls of Castle Trotz, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Along the way, he passed by Ritter. "Did you have a pleasant sleep, master Eddy?" he asked.

"Not really, but I'm used to that by now," Eddy replied.

"Well, don't worry, there won't be any classes for most of today. We're preparing for the preliminary finals."

"The what?" Eddy stopped in his tracks to continue the conversation.

"The final test for all newcomers, where we decide who goes into the contractor program, and who just becomes a simple henchman. I really must be going, I have to help with preparations. Good day."

"Yeah, uh, bye," Eddy replied, giving a light wave to the butler, who speed walked down the hall.

Eddy entered the cafeteria and scanned the room for a coffee machine. A relieved smile graced his lips as he came upon the beautiful machine. However, right next to it was none other than Cobalt. Eddy gulped, but approached the machine anyway. As long as he didn't say anything to her, he might be able to get some coffee without getting bisected. As quietly as he could, he slipped up to the coffee machine, grabbed a paper cup, and set it under the faucet. After activating the machine, he waited for the coffee to come down. Meanwhile, he couldn't help but steal a glance at Cobalt, who was a mere two feet from him. Though the woman made Eddy fear for his life every moment she talked, he couldn't deny, this was probably the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes upon. Her body seemed to have been masterfully carved from stone: curvaceous, yet powerful, smooth, but solid. Her hair was like an upside down campfire, practically glowing and daring him to run his fingers through it. And her eyes, good lord her sharp glowing blue eyes...

The sight left him so entranced in fact, that he didn't even notice that she was looking right at him. A sharp snap of her fingers brought the boy back to reality. Eddy looked up at Cobalt's face, which was twisted into a mirthful smirk. Eddy's beet red face winced when she reached over, but loosened when he saw that she had just reached over to turn off the coffee machine so it didn't overfill his cup. "Uh, thanks," he said. The normally quick witted Eddy was at a complete loss for words, born partly out of the sheer beauty before him, but mostly out of knowing that the wrong word likely meant death.

"Don't mention it, shorty," replied Cobalt, who took her own cup and sipped the contents.

Eddy stared down at the steaming hot liquid swirling around in his cup. He had never been in this situation before. Even when he said something wrong, at least then he had something to say. But then a subject did come to his mind, prompting him to turn to Cobalt. "Hey, uh, sorry about that nepotism jab back in the gardens."

"Don't worry about it," she said, waving it off. "You're not the first one, ya won't be the last."

"Got it…" Eddy trailed off. Cobalt left the machine when more contractors arrived for their morning dose. She looked back at Eddy and cocked her head towards a table nearby. Eddy's eyebrows shot up. Was she asking him to join her for coffee? Considering that only a suicidal idiot would say no to an offer such as this, Eddy approached the table, across from where Cobalt was. The daughter of Seraphim pushed out the seat in front of her with her foot under the table, and Eddy took it.

"We've got a minute to talk," said Cobalt. "Tell me how you got here."

"You seem awfully nice all of a sudden," Eddy replied, getting his second wind. "In fact, I get the feeling all of you have been nicer to us than you would normally be."

"Of course, Daddy ordered us to," Cobalt said, calmly sipping her coffee. "You're the replacements of our best agent, Delta, so we're ordered to give you every chance we can for you to succeed. But that doesn't mean we're gonna baby you, of course."

"Matthew," Eddy said, stone faced. "My brother's name is Matthew."

When she heard this, Cobalt spat out her drink right into Eddy's face. "Wait," she said after wiping her mouth. "YOU are Delta's brother? You're pipsqueak?"

_Ah great, it caught on _Eddy sighed before replying. "Yes, yes I am."

Cobalt let out a guffaw of raucous laughter, slapping her knee and grabbing her sides. "Oh sweet lord above, that's friggin priceless!"

Eddy rolled his eyes, grunting. "Yes, yes, it's very funny."

Cobalt kept up her laughter. "Sorry, it's just that you're supposed to be this badass gangster now, and you're name is PIPSQUEAK!"

"Actually my name is Eddy."

"Whatever," Cobalt eventually calmed down, her face going stone serious so quickly it was as if a switch had been flipped in her head. "But in all seriousness, you've yet to answer my question. What made you so desperate as to sign up with us?"

Eddy's eyes widened and looked to the clean tile floor. After a few seconds, he looked back up with a hardened face. "I don't want to talk about it." With that, he picked up his coffee and left the table. He only made it a few feet before the burning gaze from cobalt towards the back of his skull finally wore him down. His shoulders slumped and he sighed. "I…made a mistake. A lot of people got hurt, and I was too much of a damn coward to face the consequences. Happy?"

"Reasonably," said Cobalt with a shrug. She rose as well, her coffee finished and dispensed into a trash bin. She passed Eddy and patted him on the shoulder. "Don't worry too much, you're reason for being here isn't nearly as dark as some of the others. You're fine." With a wink and a reassuring smile, she left the cafeteria.

A spot of red dusted Eddy's cheeks as he watched the redhead disappear into the halls. He didn't even notice Double D walking through the same doors and approaching him. "Eddy? Hey, earth to Eddy," he said, waving a hand in front of his face.

Eddy shook out of his daze, erasing the blush. "H-huh, wha? Oh hey sockhead, when did you get here?"

"I've been here," replied the sockhead. "What had you so enamored?"

"U-uh, nothing, nothing at all." Eddy cursed internally. He was a way better liar than that. That was weak sauce, and his friend was sure to see right through him.

Double d raised an eyebrow, but shrugged. "Alright, if you don't want to talk about it, that's fine. Now let's be off, Seraphim wishes to speak with us." The lanky teen turned and walked out of the room, expecting Eddy to follow.

Eddy breathed in relief before catching up with his friend. However, the image of Cobalt's smiling face refused to leave his mind, prompting him to hang behind Double d when he felt the blush return.

_Maybe…this won't be so bad…_

Ah, young love~

Sorry about the long wait, college is seriously wearing down on me. Also, I spent a week back home in Georgia, so I was away from my computer for a spell. But I'm back, and I promise that these chapters are gonna come out faster and longer. Or at least I'll certainly try.

See you next time!


	9. the preliminaries begin

And here we go again, ladies and gents. For those of you worrying, don't. Things are gonna get heated up really fast. There's just a lot to this story that needs to be set up. But after the preliminary finals, I'll probably skip a good bit and cut right to their first contractor mission. Anyway, let's get started

Also, for those of you wondering when "what lies beyond the mirror" will be updated, long (and depressing) story short, that one might take longer than I thought, because I ended up losing all of my progress. I am working on it, make no mistake, but it's gonna take a bit

Double d smirked at Eddy shrinking back behind him, trying to cover the blush on his cheeks from his earlier encounter with Ms Seraphim. He didn't want to pry, that would be rude, but he would keep this little crush of Eddy's tucked away for a later date. For now, they had more pressing matters. Two days in and the boss already wanted to speak with them. One could only wonder what he wanted.

They found Ed silently waiting for them outside the large doors to the boss's office. "What took you?" he asked.

"Eddy had an…interesting encounter that hung him up for a moment," replied Double d.

Ed shrugged and opened the door to Zephyr's office, letting his friends in first and following after.

Zephyr smirked at the sight of his three new employees. "Boys," he said, standing from his chair and stretching out his arms to welcome the three. "I hope the adjustment period is going smoothly."

"As smooth as it can, sir," said Double d as he and his friends sat in the three chairs in front of his desk.

"I should hope so, because you three are getting signed up for the preliminary finals!"

All three fell back on the floor. Eddy shot to his feet, slamming his hands on Zephyr's desk. "The finals, already?" he shouted. "We've only been here for two days at most, how are we ready for the finals?"

"First of all…" Zephyr narrowed his eyes, activating the control spell on eddy, and forcing him to sit back in the chair. "Second, two days is usually enough for the brand of trained killers and psychopaths who typically make a contract with us. But Delta didn't make a contract with either of those; he made one with you three. And if I show special treatment to you, what kind of leader would I be?"

The color drained form the faces of our three heroes. Whatever these finals were, they had the distinct impression it wasn't going to be fun.

"Luckily, set up for the finals won't finish for another week. So, the best thing I believe you boys can do is train your little asses off."

The three nodded, causing Zephyr to smirk. "Good, now hop to it." The eds bolted out of Zephyr's office.

After stopping to catch their breath, Eddy looked up with a raised eyebrow. "Wait, why would he tell us this an entire week before the finals? No special treatment my ass."

"Do not mind the master," said Ritter, who appeared right behind the three, causing them to jump. "He just wants to make sure he receives his money's worth from you three. That being said, you will die in these finals if you are not properly prepared. As such…" Ritter grabbed Double D and dragged him down the hall. "I will be personally training this one for the next week. Have fun with your tutors, boys."

"Wait, wait, help meeeeeee…"Double d's cries for help echoed down the hall.

Eddy and Ed were about to give chase, when Ed was grabbed by the back of his shirt and lifted into the air by Hungryface. "Why hello there, kiddo. There's a lot to do, and not much time to do it, so let's get started!" Hungryface bounded off with Ed ragdolling behind.

Finally, none other than Cobalt approached from behind Eddy. She got his attention via a light tap on the shoulder. "You're my charge for the week, so let's get moving," she said, walking past him and gesturing with her finger for him to follow.

Eddy gulped before following behind…

Meanwhile, with Double d…

Two large mahogany doors swung open, allowing Ritter and Double d entrance into a large room. "This is the magic training room," said Ritter.

Double d, after regaining his bearings, took a look around the new room. There were four walls, each having strange writing scrawled in a circle. The fifth circle was in the center of the plain wood floor, like an arena of sorts. "M-magic?" asked the sockhead. After all he had seen, his skepticism on the idea of magic was quickly waning, but even with that said, he didn't see himself as a mage at all. "Why am I learning magic?"

"Because of all the fields in this program that you are failing in, this is the one you're doing the worst in by far," Ritter replied. "I'm going to train you personally in all fields, but magic is the main focus, hence our current location. So take your place in the circle, you have a long day ahead."

Double d gulped and walked into the circle.

Meanwhile, with Ed…

While double d was in the magic room, Ed was brought outside to the courtyard. Hungryface tossed the lump over to the other side of the field. "You've got a nice pair of fists on ya kid, so that'll be the focus of your training." Hungry face got into a fighting pose while Ed stood up. "So put up them dukes, cause you ain't gonna have a fun time." Ed turned around and, though wary, put up his fists.

Finally, with Eddy…

The doors to the firing range opened, and in walked Cobalt, with Eddy not far behind. "We've gone over the basics of firearms, but today we're going to go a bit deeper," said Cobalt, who walked over to the wall of guns and grabbed the shotgun once again. After pumping it, she aimed the gun out into the range. But this time, the barrel started glowing, purple and black electricity arced off of the metal. Eddy, of course, backed away to the wall as Cobalt pulled the trigger. Instead of buckshots, however, a large, dark purple fireball erupted from the barrel. The fireball tore through the practice dummy at the far end of the range, disintegrating the cloth and straw man.

Cobalt raised the gun to her red lips and gently blew off the smoke. Eddy's jaw hit the ground. OK, so they can turn shotguns into bazookas. That's…neat. "W-wow…" was all that Eddy could muster.

Cobalt smirked and walked up to him, handing him a 9mm pistol she picked up along the way. "Now you do it," she said.

Eddy looked up from the gun to look her straight in the eye. "You're kidding right? I can't do that!"

"You're gonna have to if you want to survive the preliminary finals, because everyone else already knows how."

_Oh, brilliant… _Eddy thought to himself. Cobalt lightly punched him in the shoulder. "Eh, don't let it get to you. Once you figure out how, the rest'll come to you in no time. Or, you know, you'll die. But let's think positive! So anyway, get on it." Cobalt pushed Eddy to the firing range. Eddy took a deep breath to calm himself before aiming the gun forward.

And so the training continued for the next week. Needless to say, it was painful for all three of our heroes. Their tutors worked them to the bone, only stopping when they passed out. On the bright side, though, by the time the week was up, results had been made.

Ed was now even stronger than he used to be, and had received enough combat training to have a good idea of what to do with that strength.

Double d was able to learn only one spell in the entire week, but luckily, his skill with his firearms and nightstick had also improved a good deal to help make up for that.

Eddy had probably made the most progress with firearms. He was now a reasonably good shot, and had even begun mastering the "shadow shot" as Cobalt called it. Sure, he wouldn't be knocking down any walls, like Cobalt can, but he was learning surprisingly quickly.

Before anyone knew it, a week had passed. To the eds, it was the longest week of their lives. But hopefully, it would all have been worth it.

The finals were to take place in the courtyard, so that's where our heroes made their way. But oddly enough, when they got there, the place was empty. "Wait, where is everyone?" asked Eddy.

"Maybe we misheard the location?" Double d said.

"No, I heard courtyard, I know I did." Then, without warning, the ground beneath the eds began to shake and stir. Soon, the stone courtyard, with a mighty hiss, lowered down a long black tunnel like an elevator, taking our three heroes with it.

After about five minutes, the platform finally came to a halt. The eds looked up and saw a massive chamber housing several wooden arenas. Around these arenas, hundreds of contractors sat in wooden chairs in the upper levels, waiting for the event to begin. And at the very end of the room sat Seraphim, with Cobalt sitting next to him.

Once he saw the eds, Seraphim smiled and stood. "Ah boys, so glad you could make it just in time. Now the preliminary finals can begin…"

Ugh, finally done with this chapter. On and off, on and off, losing inspiration, getting it back, it was insane. Well, I'm probably gonna take a break from this story so I can finally get to what lies beyond the mirror and my other stories. Or maybe not, we'll see.

See you next time.


	10. Are you not EDtertained!

I LIIIIIIIIVE! And so does this story. SO so so sorry about this taking so long, first there was moving, then there was school, then there was a trip to Michigan, ugh everything just got in my way. But I'm back! So let's get underway.

The eds stared slack jawed at the room around them. Zephyr gestured for them to step forward, to which they obliged. "Welcome my boys," he said, "you have been chosen to partake in the preliminary finals. Pass, and you will be officially indicted into the contractor program. Fail, and you will be relegated to a mere henchman…or you will die, one of the two. Simple, no?"

"So, after a week of training, you throw us to the wolves?!" Eddy shouted.

"Yep," said Seraphim, whose smile twisted to a menacing frown. "If that's a problem, I can kill you all right now. Would that be preferable?"

Two hands throw themselves over Eddy's mouth. "No, no, sir," said Double d. "W-we're completely fine. Please ignore him!" Eddy grumbled through the two hands covering him, while Ed and Double D put on their most sheepish smiles.

"Now that's the spirit," said Zephyr, whose twisted smirk returned. "Now then, there are two phases to the finals. The first is a short tourney between all of the new recruits, whoever's still conscious, will move on to the next portion of the finals. With that said, will all the recruits please enter the ring!" Two doors to the far sides of the eds opened, allowing all the other recruits to enter. The recruits all lined up beside the eds, facing seraphim.

"Odd, why would he have them all just gather in one place?" double d murmured beneath his breath. Then it hit him like a ton of bricks. By "a short tourney" Seraphim meant that everyone would be fighting everyone else at once. Double d gulped, this was going to be absolutely chaotic.

"The name of the game: survive for 5 minutes," seraphim continued. "Weapons will occasionally drop into the ring to be used at your disposal. Anyone remaining conscious gets to continue. Begin!" And it was pandemonium right from the get go, as the recruits all turned on each other. Punching, clawing, biting, kicking, anything that they could do to hurt the people around them, the agents-to-be utilized to the best of their abilities.

The eds of course scrambled away from the orgy of violence in an attempt to find each other and regroup. Once that was done, they watched the brutal display. "Okay, well, what do we do?" asked double d.

"Hey, he never said we had to get involved," said Eddy. "I say we just wait here for the clock to run its course."

"Not that bad an idea," said Seraphim, who overheard. "But of course that assumes that it's going to be that easy." He snaps his fingers, taking control of three recruits, including Royce, and pointed to our three heroes. Royce went after Eddy, leaving the remaining four to duke it out.

Someone (probably cobalt) then thought it would just be a grand idea to drop several guns into the arena, which consisted of pistols and shotguns. All loaded with rubber bullets, of course, but nonetheless, now the playing field had officially tipped in the favor of whoever got those guns. So of course everyone bolted for any guns they could get their hands on. By the first minute, five people were unconscious.

Ed stared up at the man a good 4 feet taller than him and gulped before putting up his dukes. The larger man chuckled before pointing to his chin, giving Ed the first shot. Ed took the bait, but instead of punching him in the chin, like his opponent expected, ed slammed his fists right into his gut, causing him to keel over, where Ed then uppercutted him. However, the larger man grabbed Ed's collar and gave him a staggering haymaker across his face. Ed stumbled back, clutching his head.

Meanwhile, Double d just barely managed to dodge a swipe from his opponent, who was much leaner than the one Ed was fighting. However, this made him much faster, which double d was learning the hard way as he dodged another stab by the man's hand. The hand punctured the solid wood wall where double d's head once was, making the sockhead gulp. He pulled his hand out of the hole and looked at Double d the way a wolf looks at a rabbit.

Eddy and the mind controlled Royce stared each other down 20 paces apart. Eddy lightly chewed on his lip, trying not to show his fear of the clearly physically superior man. Then, a large pistol was dropped in between them, and eddy and Royce immediately got the same idea. The two men darted for the gun at top speed, but it was clear that eddy was going to miss it by a crucial second. So, just when Royce got to the gun and was inches away from grabbing it, in the last split second, Eddy kicked the gun away from him, sending it several yards away. Before Royce could stand back up, Eddy then tackled Royce to the floor, punching and clawing at him. For this trouble, Eddy got a swift kick to his gut, sending him onto his back. Royce saw the gun and scrambled to his feet, as did Eddy.

Ed saw what the two were doing, and this caused the long rusted gears in his head to start turning. His opponent charged towards him and threw a punch at Ed's head. With every fiber of his strength, Ed grabbed the fist and used the momentum to throw his opponent over his shoulder at Royce.

Royce saw the large body flying toward him and dived out of the way. While he managed to dodge, this bought Eddy the precious seconds necessary to grab the gun. However, precious seconds were all they were, because Royce was mere inches away from him, jumping to tackle the boy. Time slowed down for Eddy as he rose up the gun. Remembering Cobalt's training, Eddy focused all of his energy into the bullet loaded into the gun. Purple and black lightning arced through the pistol and gathered at the barrel. Narrowing his eyes, Eddy shouted "Shadow Shot!" and pulled the trigger. An orb of dark purple energy erupted from the pistol and collided with Royce's gut. Since it was a rubber bullet though, it doesn't rip through his body, rather, the blast continued forward and carried Royce with it.

The muscular man stood up and shook his head to get out of the daze. However, this put him right in the path of the blast carrying Royce. Realizing what was happening too late, he was also taken up by the blast, which continued to the far wall.

Double D and his opponent were the last people in the blast's way. Thinking fast, Double d used the spell he had learned from Ritter. "Freeze!" he shouted. Under his opponent's feet, a magical circle appeared. The man suddenly found himself unable to move his feet, allowing Double d to escape the path of the blast, and for his opponent to be caught up in it. The blast collided with him, but since he was frozen to the spot, that finally proved the necessary resistance to make the bullet stop. The orb exploded, sending both Royce and the muscular man flying in different directions, while the man frozen to his spot fell unconscious standing up until the spell wore off. Eddy collapsed onto his back, the shot having taken everything out of him, though he was still conscious.

Before it could go any further, Zephyr slammed his cane on the ground, getting everyone's attention. "Time's up, ladies and gentlemen," he said. "Everyone still conscious, please step forward. If you are unable to step forward, I will order the nearest person to you to carry you." Double d and Ed lifted Eddy onto their shoulders without Zephyr having to give the order and carried him to where all the other recruits were. "Congratulations, boys and girls, you've passed the first half of the preliminaries. Now there is only the second half and you will be fully fledged contractors." The eds breathed a sigh of relief while the others just stared silently forward. "Now then, up we go!" The ground beneath them shook once again, rising up to the land above.

A large hole opened in the courtyard, allowing the arena to take its place. Zephyr gestured to the forest behind them. "For the next half of the preliminaries, you will each gather into groups of three and survive for a week in the black forest, the preliminaries ending on the 7th day where you must make it back to the castle before midnight of that day. There are supplies hidden throughout the forest, but you may not take any with you. Also, there is no penalty for killing the other teams, if they cannot survive the preliminaries, they won't last a day in the field. Now off you go, and good luck." The wooden walls of the arena collapsed, revealing the thicket to the 10 remaining recruits.

Eddy, having gotten his second wind, pointed up at Zephyr. "Hey, old man!" he shouted. "We will be back."

Zephyr gave his signature twisted smirk, this one however carrying a bit more admiration in its shape. "I'm counting on it." And so the eds were off with the other recruits, of course teaming up with each other. Zephyr watched them disappear into the thicket and chuckled.

Cobalt raised an eyebrow at her father's laugh. "Something funny, daddy?" she asked.

"Ah, it's nothing, just…It's eerie how similar they are."

See, zephyr ain't so bad…okay he is, but he has his good sides. Anyway, sorry again that this took so long, so I'll try to be quicker, I promise. See you all next time!


	11. The knives of Caesar part 1

I'm BAAAAACK! Same excuse as always, college is a bitch. So let's not dawdle any longer, on with the show!

**Day one**

The black forest is a sprawling, mountainous landscape that stretches all the way to the German/French border. To say it's easy to get lost in this forest is like saying that the boston strangler was a bit of a loon. And, as our heroes soon found out, they couldn't just go a mile or two out from the castle and just wait there. No, that would be too easy, so Cobalt released some of her more…wily plants out into the immediate area around the forest. Luckily, the eds realized this before they were scooped up and eaten. One of the other recruits, however, wasn't so lucky.

After an hour of running, where the sun had started to set against the landscape, causing most of the forest to go pitch black as if it were the middle of the night, the eds finally decided to stop to catch their breath. "Jesus," Eddy said in between heavy pants. "What the hell is wrong with these people?"

"I've heard of survival of the fittest," Double d chimed in. "But this is psychotic."

Ed fell flat on his back upon the grass. "Tired…" he grunted before drifting off to sleep.

The other two eds watched their snoring friend and sighed. "We probably should get some rest," Said Double d, who rubbed his eyes. "We have a long week ahead of us." Double d laid himself against a tree and attempted to get some sleep. When he didn't hear Eddy stirring on the ground, he opened one eye to see him looking out through the brush. "Not tired?"

"I'll uh, keep watch," Eddy said, looking back at his friend. "You get some rest, I'll go to sleep in a minute."

"If you say so." With that, Double d shut his eyes to go back to sleep. Eddy sat on a large root and kept watch. He was just as tired as the other two, but he also knew they couldn't let down their guard, not even for a second.

Meanwhile…

On a faraway cliff stood two lone figures, watching the contractors moving throughout the forest with binoculars. One was a girl not much older than the eds, but her eyes carried a deadly precision that carefully watched each of the students. The other figured was concealed in a black overcoat and wide brimmed hat. "Look at them," said the girl. "Scurrying like ants. This'll be easy."

"Your confidence is admirable, Ms. Mimi, if misguided," said the cloaked figure. "Do not underestimate any of them. If they are here, then they are trained killers who will grant you no quarter. Kill them all, without mercy."

"That's what you hired me for, isn't it?" asked Mimi. "Rest assured, the Knives of Ceaser do not disappoint. They will be dead before the week is done."

"Then see to it," said the figure. "My employer does not tolerate failure. If they do not kill you, you will wish they did." In the blink of an eye, the figure was gone.

**Day two**

The eds took shifts throughout the night, each watching for anyone approaching while the other two slept. A few hours before the sun came up, Eddy woke up his two friends and they headed out. "So, what's the plan?" asked Double d.

Eddy turned around. "Why are you asking me?"

"You're the man with the plan, if I remember correctly."

Eddy sighed. Curse his ego. "Well, first things first, we need to find one of those supply caches Seraphim talked about. I'm willing to bet there's food in there, or at least the means to get food."

"Sounds like a plan," Double d said with a shrug.

"Tally ho!" Ed shouted. Ed snatched up Eddy and Double d and bounded in a random direction into the forest.

The three traveled for about two hours. They didn't really have any direction, but they at lest had a goal; find supplies. However, as time drew on, and their search bore no fruit, they grew in hunger. "It's no use," Double d said. "We'll never find those supply caches before we starve to death."

"What do we do?" asked Ed.

"We'll have to get the food the old fashioned way," said Eddy.

"Oh, joy," Double d said, taking a gulp.

Meanwhile…

Mimi leapt from tree to tree, the only sound made by her movements being the light rustling of the branches. In the brush below, she saw her prey stumbling through the forest. He was panicked, irrational. She couldn't blame him, as she had already killed his two teammates and propped them up in the perfect "serial killer victims menagerie" way that practically guaranteed darkened jeans. The dumbass stopped to catch his breath, leaning against a tree. A toothy smirk crawled across Mimi's face as she peered down at the sheep below. The guy had found a gun earlier on a hidden package, which he whipped around at the tree line. "Who the hell are you?!" he shrieked.

Mimi hopped onto the tree he was leaned against, still out of his sight. She giggled, throwing her voice around the forest to throw him off. "Someone who was expecting more of a challenge than this," she said. "You won't believe the amount of zeroes that were on the check offered to me to kill you all. I at least expected you to know how to use a gun."

"You-you're an assassin?" he asked.

"I'm a professional." With that, she held out her arm, aimed at the poor sap's head. A small pistol then slid out of her sleeve, which she then clasped. In one small pressure on the trigger, she had officially eliminated one of the teams. "Shame you couldn't say the same…"

One team down, three to go…

Meanwhile…

Double d took a damp cloth and rubbed it against Eddy's bleeding forehead, while Ed mounted the rabbit, tied to a stick, over a decently sized fire. They had managed to catch themselves some dinner, but not before Mr. Bunny had caused Eddy to trip and fall head first into a large bramble patch and give himself a bad konk on the head along with the painful stings. Eddy narrowed his eyes at the cooking rabbit. "Yeah, that's right Mr. Bun bun. Burn," he said.

"Perhaps next time you'll think twice before jumping towards anything while on the edge of a small cliff," said Double D. "or any kind of cliff for that matter."

Eddy stuck out his tongue at his friend before going back to watching the rabbit cook.

The three sat in silence, even when eating. They didn't want to make too much noise, and potentially alert a rival team that may be nearby to their presence. However, the silence was broken by something far different. The eds perked up when they heard the rustling of leaves and the clumsy stomping of boots. They scrambled for anything that could be used as a weapon. Ed grabbed a large stone from the ground, Double d grabbed a smaller stone and stepped back with intention to snipe their potential attacker, and Eddy grabbed a still flaming stick from the fire and pointed it out at the darkness.

Someone did step from the shadows, but he wasn't a threat. One of the other would-be recruits stumbled out from the darkness, his face dripping with blood, and clutching a limp arm, snapped in two. The man slumped to the ground and fell on his face. The eds immediately dropped their weapons (Eddy of course laying the stick back into the fire) and ran to his side, pulling him up and laying him against a nearby tree. "Hey, buddy, can you talk?" asked Eddy.

The man coughed up a bit of blood before looking up at them. "B-just barely, but yeah-I-I can talk."

"What happened to you?" asked Double d, trying hard not to gag at the sight of the man's shattered arm, which was still bleeding profusely.

"Assa-*cough*-assassin, in the woods," he said through a bleeding mouth. "Hunted us all down like animals. D-don't know how many she's gotten so far, but she got my team…"

"Is this Zephyr's idea of a test?!" Double d asked, backing into a tree. "I know he's looking for the best, but this is absolutely insane!"

"T-that's just it, though," said the man. "I don't think she's with Zephyr. I'm from the mafia, and trust me, you can tell when your boss sends someone to kill you."

Eddy turned to Double d. "Sockhead, he's hurt pretty bad," he said.

"W-what do you want me to do?"

"Well you're the doctor's kid, you must know something!"

Double d gulped, took a deep breath, and then huffed before walking back to the man. "W-we need to splint this arm," he said, his voice shaky, but determined. "Ed, tear off a bit of your coat." Ed did just that and handed it to the sockhead, who took two sticks and used the cloth to tie the sticks to the man's broken arm, splinting it straight. Double d grabbed the damp cloth from before and cleaned off the man's face. "Okay, Ed, pick him up and take him to the fire." Ed nodded, grabbed the stranger and carried him to the fireside.

The man shivered by the fire while the eds sat next to him. "Wh-why are you…helping me?"

"Hey, strength in numbers, right?" asked Eddy with a sheepish grin. "Rest up, because we're probably gonna have to get moving pretty soon. If you just got away, she probably won't be far behind."

The man nodded. "Probably a good idea."

"By the way, what's your name, stranger?" Eddy asked

"Dick," he replied. "Dick Sullivan."

Eddy smirked, pointing his thumb towards himself. "I'm Eddy," he said, pointing at the others. "That's Double D, and Ed." Dick nodded at the three in acknowledgement.

Meanwhile…

Mimi hopped form branch to branch, scanning the scenery with her night vision goggles. She stopped on a perch to more thoroughly scan the area. Just as she was about to quit, though, something caught her eye. She zoomed in on a patch of ground to get a closer look at a blotch of something on the dirt. It was blood. Someone had been bleeding here. And if she was a betting girl (which she was) it was the one that got away. She scanned for more bloodstains nearby. It took a minute or two, but she found the trail. With a devilish smirk, she continued through the forest towards her target. Who knows, this mistake might've been a blessing in disguise.

He just might lead her to the rest of her prey.


	12. the knives of Caesar part 2

Welcome back, people! So here's the thing, this is gonna be a long ass story. So rather than end up with a story that's a couple hundred chapters long, I'm just gonna break it up into several books. The end of this book is on its way, but the story is nowhere near over yet, and I wanna make that clear. Anyway, let's get to it

Day 3

The eds and Dick had been walking through the night, and thankfully managed to find their way to a more open area of the forest, where the morning light was far more prominent than the area they started in. They all agreed that this was a good area to rest for a moment.

Ed shook rocks out of his shoes with one hand, while massaging his right foot with the other. "I hate getting rocks in my shoes…" he grumbled. The other two eds were internally thanking whatever gods may be that their current circumstance had managed to distract Ed enough to keep him from going into a rampage like the last time he got a rock in his shoe. Meanwhile, Dick was resting his eyes while leaning against a rock.

Eddy shimmied up a nearby tree until he reached a branch sturdy enough to bear his weight. He sat against the trunk while watching the horizon for their unknown attacker. Thankfully, they hadn't seen hide nor hair of her since they were made aware of the fact that someone wanted them dead, but that probably just meant he/she was saving them for last. Ether way, they couldn't afford to dilly dally.

"See anything?" asked Double d from down below.

"Other than a very suspicious looking pigeon, nothing," Eddy replied. "I'll keep looking though."

Double d nodded, turning back to Dick. "How is your arm?"

Dick sat up, grunting. "It doesn't hurt as much," he said. "Thanks again for helping me out back there."

Double d smiled. "Think nothing of it."

Dick's eyes narrowed. "So now that we have a minute, I gotta ask; how the hell did you three kids end up here?" he asked.

"My brother's an asshole, that's how," Eddy said.

"What he means is that his older brother promised to help us, then tricked us into signing a contract which bound us to Mr. Seraphim," Double d chimed in.

Dick groaned. "Signin your own bro and his friends to a guy like Mr. Seraphim. I've seen some assholes in my day, given my profession, but that takes a special brand of jerk-off."

"I cannot argue with that, I suppose," Double d said. He turned around to Eddy with a raised eyebrow. "Although, I'm surprised at your hostility, considering how adamant you've been about reminding people about his real name."

"Matthew is his name, that's all," Eddy grumbled, trying to stay focused on the horizon.

"I see. In any case, I think we've sufficiently rested. We should get moving. Eddy, you can come down now." Double d walked back to Ed and Dick, just in time to be out of the way of Eddy, who tripped on his way down and fell flat on his face where Double d would've landed.

"Ow," was Eddy's only word before he stood up and dusted himself off. He made haste to join the others, who were a few paces ahead of him.

Meanwhile…

With a twist of her rope, another trainee went limp in her grasp. Mimi dropped the dead body to the forest below and went back to searching for the trail she'd been following all night. Whoever she was chasing were amateurs, but amateurs with at least a day's head start. Even following the trail, it was going to take some time to find them, while also eliminating the last of the teams. She had four days, though, so she still had time.

Now, where did that last guy get off to…?

That night…

The Eds and Dick, after an entire afternoon of aimless wandering, had found a small cave to hide in. And by small, what was meant was essentially a hole in the side of a rock. Just big enough to house the four, but no bigger. They had just managed to get a fire going, which was now crackling with life in the center of their huddled circle. An hour of uncomfortable silence went by before Eddy spoke up. "So," he said. "When do you think we should be heading back?"

Dick sighed and ran his good hand through his jet-black hair. "We should probably try to make our way back first thing tomorrow. We're pretty lost, so it's gonna take us a while to find our way back. However, that still leaves us with another problem.."

The eds sighed. "The assassin," said Double d.

"Correct," said Dick. "If one of the other recruits hasn't managed to somehow kill her, she'll find us way before we make it back to the castle."

"What do we do then?" asked Ed.

Dick shrugged. "We run and hope she doesn't catch all of us."

Eddy growled into his pulled up knees before standing up with a rock. "Dammit, there has to be something we can do!" Eddy threw the rock, putting all of his frustration into his throwing arm. The rock flew off into the darkness. Right as Eddy was about to sit down, however, the rock hit something. Something made of metal. "What the hell was that?" Eddy asked.

"I wonder…" said Dick, who stood up, grabbed a piece of burning wood from the fire, and went off in the direction of Eddy's rock. A few moments passed before Dick came running back. "Guys, it's a care package. God bless our luck, it's a care package!"

The eds stood up and followed Dick to the package. Lo and behold, a large metal crate, concealed by the darkness and a few fallen branches. The crate bore the symbol of the contractors, signifying that this was indeed one of the many care packages left in the forest for the recruits. It took Ed and Dick using a few sharpened rocks and branches to open it, revealing a small assortment of guns, melee weapons, and medical supplies. "Booyah!" Eddy proclaimed, who punched the air.

"If nothing else, this'll buy us a much better chance of survival," said Dick, who grabbed a pistol and holstered it in his belt.

"So, same plan as before?" asked Eddy

"Pretty much. Except with a much higher survivability rate."

"You sure about that?" asked a voice from behind them. The eds and Dick shot around to see, standing on a tree branch and looking down at them, a grinning Mimi. "Found you, little fishy." Her mouth was like a grinning shark, with sharpened teeth to match. Her dark hair was caked with blood, which was also under her fingernails. And her piercing green eyes meticulously scanned each of her prey.

In short, this was the absolute last thing our heroes wanted to see right now.

Really short this time, sorry, but it's been so long since the last update, I feel I owed you something. I won't dig my own grave by promising the next one will come sooner, but I will promise that it'll be longer. See you next time!


	13. The knives of Caesar part 3

Welp, this didn't take very fucking long at all, huh? And it's longer to boot! So here's my explanation. For the past several chapters, I was convinced that I could better even up my work if I divided my fanfics between my desktop and my laptop. Which is why my fusionfall chapters have been coming out much more frequently. Bad idea, since I only ever use my laptop for college work, so whenever I open it, I usually have more pressing matters to attend to. But now DC's back on my desktop, and I can promise without pause that chapters will be coming out faster and longer! So let's not waste anymore time!

The eds were frozen to their spots, while Dick backed up until he hit a root, which sent him tripping down onto the floor. Mimi chuckled. "So, you're the last ones standing," she said, summoning her pistol from her sleeve. "You passed your master's test. Now here's your prize." The, another shot went off, knocking the pistol out of her hand. Mimi clutched her hand in pain, looking down to see which one fired the shot. It was Dick, who was holding the pistol with his good hand.

"Run for it!" Screamed Dick, who scrambled to his feet and ran the same direction as the eds as they bolted down the forest.

Mimi growled. She let herself get cocky, so this was her own fault. But that was easily remedied. Mimi pulled out a push knife from her pocket and leapt through the trees after them.

The eds and Dick sped through the forest, ignoring the aching of their tired legs and the distant echo of the assassin's giggling. Eddy and Ed stopped when they heard Double D let out a sharp cry of pain behind them. They whipped their heads around to see their friend on the ground with a push knife in his leg. "Ed, pick him up!" Eddy shouted, continuing to run. Ed quickly snatched up Double d and caught up to Eddy.

"She had me in her sights," Double d said. "Why didn't she just kill me?" Then the answer dawned on him, sending his stomach into backflips. "Oh god…she's playing with us."

"Dick, please tell me you know how to get back to the castle," Eddy said to Dick, who was ahead of him.

"If we find a high enough hill, we should be able to see it," Dick replied. He then ducked to avoid an arrow which embedded itself in a tree. "That's of course assuming we live that long."

Eddy scanned the sky above for any kind of high elevation, finally seeing the tip of a hill which barely peeked over the treeline. "There's one," he said.

The group immediately changed course, making a hard right in the direction of the hill. However, a grunt of pain also caught their attention. Ed had a much higher tolerance for pain than the smaller double d, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt when Mimi lodged an arrow into the back of his shoulder. "There's no way we're going to make it there before she kills us," Dick said.

Eddy's eyes shot around wildly, trying to formulate any kind of plan. Then, an idea struck him. He tore off a chunk of his shirt and grabbed a nearby large stick. "Dick, did that medical kit have any rubbing alcohol?" he asked as he wrapped the sick in the torn shirt.

Dick's eyes widened as he caught on to the plan. He frantically searched the med kit, trying not to drop anything while they ran. He found the rubbing alcohol and tossed it to Eddy. Eddy pried off the lid with his teeth and doused the cloth and stick in the alcohol. "Okay, now we need a light."

Dick reached into his pocket and pulled one out. He shrugged. "When you're a chain smoker, it pays to carry your own light."

Eddy flashed a toothy smirk as he lit the makeshift torch. The flames crackled wildly to life and illuminated the forest for them. "That bitch likes her trees so much, let's see how she does without them." Eddy swung the torch around as he ran, setting the grass and branches around him ablaze. The fires grew and joined each other until an uncontrollable inferno was sweeping through the forest. Eddy threw the torch behind him so it could continue spreading the flame, allowing him and the others to continue running unabated.

Meanwhile…

Mimi jumped back from the branch she was on before it caught fire. She looked in all directions to find a place to jump to that wasn't on fire, but her options were dwindling. The only branch she could safely land on which was close enough to the ground that she could jump down safely was just barely in her range. But the growing flames pushed her decision. Mimi leapt from her branch, not far enough to land on her destination, so she reached out and grabbed the branch with both hands, intending to swing to the ground below. But the old and weak branch gave way from her weight, sending her crashing to the fiery floor of the forest.

Meanwhile…

With one final huff of exhaustion, Eddy collapsed at the top of the hill. Ed was sitting on a stone with his belt in his mouth as Dick pulled the arrow out of his back and bandaged the wound. Double d, meanwhile, was bandaging his knife wound himself. Once Eddy felt the required strength return to him, he stood up and climbed onto the biggest rock on top of the hill. "C'mon, c'mon," he muttered as he scanned the horizon. That fire would slow her down, but not forever. And since this hill had a pretty sheer drop in every direction but the one they came from, the only way they were getting down was the way they came up. So every second they spent up here was another second that girl was using to corner them on this hill. Then, just as Eddy was about to turn away, the morning sun started coming up. It was the fourth day. But what concerned Eddy was the sight of two black spires barely visible in the distance. Eddy would never had seen them if it weren't for the sun. Eddy jumped off of the rock and ran to his friends. "Guys! I saw it! I saw the castle!" he said.

"Where?" asked Dick. Eddy pointed out at the horizon, and Dick saw the castle in the distance. "Yeah, shouldn't be more than two days away. If we get moving right now, we should make it in time."

"Um, fellows," said Double d. "Not to rain on our parade, but there's only one way down from here, and that's to go back into the forest fire we created, not to mention the evil assassin girl who's probably on her way up here right now."

"How fucking perceptive," said an all too familiar voice from behind. Double d and Ed turned around slowly, while Eddy and Dick could only stare. Mimi was behind them, staring the four down just as she did earlier that night. Same scene, way angrier Mimi. Her right foot limped behind her, twisted from her fall. Her tight black leather suit was ripped and burnt from the fire, which had also singed and burnt her hair and skin. Her eyes radiated fury, but were also visibly bogged down by exhaustion caused by four days of nonstop movement. The eds were in a similar boat, but had only had to stay up for two days, so while their exhaustion was less, they weren't nearly as trained to handle it as Mimi was. Mimi shambled closer to them, holding up her right arm to aim an arm mounted crossbow. "Nowhere to run, assholes."

Eddy swung his head to Dick. "Dick, your gun!" Dick, thinking fast, tossed Eddy his gun before he was hit by one of Mimi's arrows, sending him crashing to the ground and into unconsciousness when hi head hit a stone. Eddy grabbed the gun in midair an aimed it at Mimi, who had already reloaded her crossbow. "I don't know who you are or why you're doing this, and I don't give a shit," he said.

"Glad to hear it," Mimi said with a smirk. "It seems we have a standoff." Her glare turned to Double d and Ed. "If you two don't want your friend to die, you will stay right the fuck where you are."

Eddy let out a bit of choked laughter. "Standoff? Not likely…" Eddy's gun surged with purple and black lightning. Mimi's eyes widened in realization right before Eddy pulled the trigger. "Shadow shot!" A mass of purple and black energy erupted from the gun and rocketed at Mimi. Eddy couldn't see if it hit because of the flash of the explosion. Double d and Ed tackled him to the ground as the explosion washed over them. Smoke rose from the crater in a small mushroom cloud, leaving the three to watch the smoke, convinced it was over. Then, an arrow zipped through the smoke and gashed Eddy's right shoulder as it barely missed him. The pain caused him to drop the gun, leaving them defenseless as Mimi stumbled out of the smoke.

"Now," she snarled. "Now you're through…" There was what looked like armor underneath her suit, which was clearly what saved her life, seeing as how most of the suit was torn and burnt. Mimi held up her right arm, revealing a wrist watch. She pressed a few buttons on the watch, activating a countdown. The watch was a bomb.

"Wait," said Double d. "You don't have to-"

"I'm already dead," Mimi interrupted. "My superiors won't be happy with me for taking so much damage from a couple of rookie punks like you. At least this way, I can take you brats with me!" She ran at the eds at top speed. The eds tried to run, but they soon found themselves against the edge of the cliff. It was either get blown up by the crazy assassin, or fall to their deaths, and then blow up when she jumped down after them.

Then, suddenly, Dick intercepted Mimi, having woken up from his impromptu nap. "Stay away from those kids!" he shouted, launching himself at Mimi. The mafia goon tackled the assassin, and they both went over the side of the cliff to the forest below.

"Dick!" Eddy screamed, reaching down after him. Double d and Ed pulled him back over the side as the watch exploded and rocked the forest with the blast. Eddy stared at the ground beneath him for what felt like an eternity to him before Double d and Ed helped him to his feet.

"Come, Eddy," said Double d, who was trying to hold back tears himself. "Let's…let's get going."

"Yeah…" was Eddy's only reply.

**Day 7**

Usually, Cobalt loved the feeling of the wind rushing through her bright red hair when she walked the ramparts of Castle Trotz. It was just such a nice, relaxing feeling that was especially so after a long day of work. But even this couldn't shake this feeling of dread that had latched onto her like a parasite. The sun was setting on the last day, and there wasn't a sign of any of the recruits. "C'mon pipsqueak," she muttered to herself. "You promised daddy you'd be back. A Vera is supposed to keep their promises…"

"A euro for your thoughts?" asked Zephyr, who was now behind his daughter.

Cobalt sighed. "Daddy?" she asked. "Is it stupid to worry about someone I met two weeks ago?"

Zephyr smiled softly and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Despite how much I may want to, I cannot dictate who you can or cannot care about," he said in a softness reserved only for her. "They will be fine."

"How do you know?" she asked.

"Because I see them right now." Zephyr pointed his cane down to the castle gates, where three distinct dots were making their way down into the courtyard.

Meanwhile…

Even though the first forest fire they caused had started dying out when they went back down the mountain, the explosion from Mimi's bomb had started another one. So after another exhausting run through the forest, while still trying to stay on path, the eds were finally able to get an entire days rest on the fifth day. But that meant they had wasted an entire day, so there was no sleep for the 6th night or the 7th morning. Ed had to carry Double d the rest of the way, and Eddy had twisted his ankle while running from the fire, so he had to make due with a crutch made out of sticks, which he had to lean on with his gashed arm.

But they made it. They beat Zephyr, they beat the assassin, and they made it back alive. So once they reached the courtyard, all three collapsed. Eddy, drifting in and out of consciousness, saw a blur of red and blue looking down at him. "You made it pipsqueak," said the blur with affectionate sarcasm.

"Don't call me that…" Eddy choked out. "I'm a…contractor…" Eddy drifted off to sleep, his trail finally over.

Zephyr looked down at the three with a crooked smirk. "Indeed you are."

WOW! Over 2000 words! In just three days! It's stupid how easy this is. Well, I'm happy to announce that this length is gonna be the norm from here on out! Dark contract is back, and it's back in fucking force! And we're not even close to halfway done! But that's a story for another day! See you next time!


	14. The end of the beginning

**Damn, this is it. This is the last chapter. Not the LAST chapter, mind you, as I plan on starting the second book in this series right after finishing this chapter. But hot damn, after two years, I'm finally wrapping this thing up. And that's not even considering the good two years it took to think up this story in the first place. Two years of learning how to properly write prose, losing interest, regaining interest, thinking up new ideas and trying to fit them in. Well don't worry boys and girls, Dark Contract isn't going anywhere anytime soon! This book may be ending, but the eds journey has only just begun, and you won't believe what I have in store for them in the coming years. So let's not waste any more time, I give you: the last chapter of Dark Contract Book 1! **

Everything hurts…

That was the first thought that crossed Eddy's mind as consciousness drifted back to him. His body felt like every single cell he had was simultaneously committing suicide. He didn't know what to focus on first; his burning shoulder, his aching legs, or his throbbing head. Blurs of bright light crept into his vision as his eyes creaked open. The intense ringing in his ears dissolved into the occasional low beep of hospital machinery. He was in a bed, in a hospital, alive. For a moment, Eddy was convinced that he was in a coma, and it had all been a dream. There were no contractors, he never saw his big bro, and they never pulled that big scam. He didn't ruin his friend's lives. But as his mind shifted back into proper working order, he remembered the truth. His eyes darted around the room when his head hurt too much to move. He was in a hospital, probably the castle's personal infirmary. There was more beeping to his left and right, which he assumed was Double d and Ed. Eddy closed his eyes and sighed in relief.

His eyes reopened when he heard the door creak open. The sound of rolling wheels brought a food trolley next to his bed, pushed by a nurse whose face he was still too groggy to make out. "Ah, good, you're awake," said the nurse. "I'll inform the master when I leave. Hungry?"

Eddy forced out a dry chuckle and spoke as best he could without coughing his guts out. "I don't, I don't think I have it in me to-to eat right now," he said, his throat bone dry.

"It's alright, I can feed you," said the nurse. It was then that the blobs and blurs of Eddy's vision began to give way to proper shapes and forms. The nurse's face pieced together into something…familiar.

Too familiar.

But before Eddy could say anything, the nurse straddled him and slammed her hand on his mouth, silencing him. The nurse removed her white cap, letting her hair fall over her burnt face. Mimi grinned down at him with her sharpened teeth as she pulled out a syringe. "But first," she said. "I think you need a shot."

_What the hell does it take to kill this girl? _Eddy asked internally. Mimi wielded the syringe like a knife and raised it over her head, intending to bring it down on Eddy's face. "The knives of Caesar do not disappoint!" Mimi proclaimed. But when she moved to bring down her weapon, her wrist was grabbed by a newcomer behind her. Mimi cocked her head around to see who it was, before a second hand grabbed her by her hair and threw her to the ground.

Zephyr Seraphim towered over the assassin, slamming his cane in front of her head. "The Knives of Caesar, eh?" he asked. "Our organizations have done business in the past, so what brought this on?"

Mimi sat up and drew a knife. "My superiors wanted me to inform you that this is nothing personal. A job was given, and orders were followed. Nothing more."

"You a new recruit, then?" asked Zephyr, who pushed his tea shade glasses up his nose. "One of their child soldiers?"

"The last person who gets to judge us on that front is you, Lord Seraphim," Mimi spat back. She rose to her feet and jumped over Zephyr's head to the still immobile Eddy, knife brandished. Before she reached him, however, Mimi was caught in midair by an array of pitch black tentacles that sprouted from the ground beneath Zephyr's cane. Zephyr calmly turned around and slammed his cane into the ground once more. The tendrils, as if obeying some silent command, pulled Mimi back into a black puddle. Mimi grabbed onto the railing at the foot of the bed, but the pull was too strong. With one final shriek, Mimi was pulled down into the puddle, where her scream faded away. The puddle vanished without a trace, and Zephyr walked up to Eddy's bedside.

"She will be dealt with, I assure you," he said. "For now, get some rest. Your graduation ceremony awaits you and your friends when you're able to walk."

"B-boss," Eddy said. "Who, who sent…?" Wheezing and coughing blacked out whatever he was about to say.

"That," Zephyr answered. "Is what I intend to learn." Zephyr turned on his heels and walked out of the infirmary, leaving Eddy alone to drift off back to sleep.

It was three days before all of the eds were back among the wakeful, and another week before the doctors deemed them safe to get up and walk around without assistance. Cobalt and Royce came by every now and then to check on the three, and they would all talk for an hour or two before duty called them away.

Finally, the day came where the eds were permitted to leave the hospital wing. Besides a few aches, all three were right as rain. Cobalt and Royce were waiting for them in the hall outside. Cobalt rose from her seat on a windowsill when she saw the eds approach. Royce cocked his head in greeting, closing the book he was reading. "Well, looks who's up and about," said Royce.

"Hey guys," said Eddy with a short wave.

Cobalt chuckled with a wry smirk before putting Eddy into a headlock and giving him a noogie. "Ready to join the big boy club, boys?" she asked.

"I would be if you weren't breaking my neck!" Eddy said working his way out of the hold. Cobalt giggled, lightly punching his shoulder.

Eddy was then pulled, along with Double d, into a big bear hug by Ed. "This is the best day of my life!" Ed said, holding them tighter.

"Okay, Ed, we get it, can you put us down, please?" Double d said through choked breaths.

Ed dropped his friends and laughed sheepishly, hand behind his head. Cobalt giggled again, gesturing for the eds to follow her. "C'mon, daddy's waiting for us."

The eds followed Cobalt and Royce down the hall to Zephyr's office. Cobalt knocked on the door three times and the doors opened by themselves. Cobalt and Royce led the three inside, where Zephyr waited for them behind his desk. Zephyr was in the middle of setting fire to a contract. The parchment lit up in green flame, and a small blue wisp emerged from the fire and flew through the window behind Zephyr up into the sky.

"Uh, boss, who was…?" Eddy asked.

"Dick Sullivan's soul," Zephyr replied as he watched the wisp fly off into the horizon. "His death has terminated his contract, so there is no reason to keep his soul." Zephyr turned to the three and rested his hands on the desk. "Now, on to the ceremony."

"What? This is it?" asked Eddy once again. "I was expecting a bit…I dunno, more."

"Perhaps ceremony is the wrong word," Zephyr said, hands clasping together. "What it really entails is one last amendment to the contract you made with your brother. With this last amendment, you will be recognized as official contractors." Zephyr's hands separated, and between them materialized the new contract. Beneath the original dotted line where the eds signed their names was a second one meant for recognizing the amendment. "What separates contractors from the average henchman of this organization is the power and privileges that come with it. Signing this contract will grant you access to higher level jobs and special areas in the castle formerly inaccessible to you before today. Finally, becoming a contractor will unlock powers within you. Formerly dormant magical energy that lies within all humans will be released in the form of abilities unique to each of you." Zephyr pushed the contract to the end of the table, where three pens waited for the eds. "The downside is obvious: your souls still belong to me and my company. This will continue until you pay off your debt to me. However long this takes is up to you. Until then, you are bound to my command, is that understood?"

The eds nodded in sync. Zephyr smirked. "Well then, boys, whenever you're ready to sign."

Eddy stopped short of the paper, which stopped the other two from signing. Eddy turned around to look at the room around him. His eyes stopped on Cobalt, who smiled, genuinely smiled, at him. The two saw something, something that could be someday. So, with one final breath, Eddy turned around and placed his pen on the paper, and the other two followed suit. Their names glowed on the paper, and the paper disappeared.

"It is done," said Zephyr, who reached across the desk to shake the three boys' hands. "Welcome to the contractor program."

Cobalt came up from behind Eddy and put him into another headlock. "Now that that's settled, we can move onto the fun part!" She said.

"There's a fun part?" asked Eddy with a wry smirk.

"Hell yeah. Hungryface cooks up a gigantic feast for the entire castle whenever we get new recruits. C'mon, before the sweet rolls are all gone!" Cobalt grabbed Eddy by the hand and ran out of the office with him in tow.

"Well, she's certainly taken a likin to him," said Royce, who tipped his cowboy hat to Zephyr. "I'll show myself out as well, m'lord." Royce walked out of the office with a whistle.

Double d bowed to Zephyr. "Can we expect you at the party?" he asked.

Zephyr smiled and waved his hand at double d. "In a bit, I have some things to wrap up first. Go, have fun. Enjoy these moments of happiness. This job will take the rest."

Ed picked up Double d and put him on his shoulders. "Sweet rolls, double d!" he shouted, barreling down the hall with Double d barely hanging on.

Zephyr snapped his fingers, closing the doors behind Ed. He stood up and turned to a shadow in the corner of the room. Ritter stepped out from the shadow and gave a curt bow. "Anything?" he asked.

"Actually yes," Ritter said. "She contacted her superiors when she believed we were not listening. She has a message for you, my lord."

Zephyr straightened his suit, stepping into the shadowed corner with Ritter, where they both vanished.

Deep underground…

In one of the many cavernous pits that twist and turn in the bedrock beneath Castle Trotz, Mimi lied limp against the wall, her arms shackled above her. Her nurse outfit was replaced with a dusty rag that barely covered her beaten and burned body. Her haggard face looked up when she heard the metal creaking of her cell door opening.

Zephyr entered Mimi's cell and looked down his nose at the young girl. "I have been informed that you have a message for me?" he asked.

Mimi chuckled weakly, looking up at Zephyr. "My superiors wanted me to tell you, in the event that I was captured, who hired me in the first place. My employer was very specific about what he wanted me to say to you."

"Then speak."

Mimi gestured him closer with her finger. Zephyr leaned down to her level. Mimi pushed herself up to his ear and whispered. "Why are you asking? Who else could it be?"

Zephyr's eyes shot open wide and he stood back upright, looking down at Mimi with a mix of anger and shock. Mimi just laughed, her back arching backward with her head thrown as far back as it could go. Zephyr calmed himself and glared down at the assassin. Zephyr snapped his fingers, and the room grew ten times as dark as it had already been. Mimi's laughter didn't stop, not even when several cold, grey arms reached out from the blackness behind her and dragged her in with them. Her laughter continued regardless, even when joined by the sound of tearing flesh and crunching bones. Soon though, the laughter died, first replaced by dying gurgles, then by silence. The darkness dissipated, and Zephyr turned to leave the cell.

Ritter awaited him outside of the cell, a small rag prepared. Zephyr took the rag and wiped the sweat from his brow. "Sir," Ritter said. "Does this mean that he's making his move?"

"No, not yet," said Zephyr. "One rookie assassin eliminating a few recruits, that's not a hit, it's a formality. Just his way of telling us that the war is coming." Zephyr walked into the nearest dark corner, and walked out into his office, with Ritter following behind.

Zephyr sat in his desk and rest his chin on his clasped hands. "They won't be ready, sir," said Ritter

"They have no choice but to be ready," Zephyr replied. Then, he chuckled. "Most of the people here think I am evil. They have no idea what evil is…" Zephyr stood from his chair, put his hands behind his back and stared out the window and into the distance. "But they will. By god, they will."

**And boom! Book 1 is complete! Thank you all so much for following me on this crazy adventure that's only just beginning. I can't wait to show you all what I have in store, it's gonna be one hell of a ride!**

**See you all then in book 2!**


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